No more grand coalition

Angela Merkel has been re-elected as Chancellor of Germany with the CDU and its Bavaria-only sister, the Christian Social Union, winning 33.8 per cent of the vote and the Social Democrats 23 percent; the FDP captured 14.6 per cent, the Left Party 11.9 per cent and the Greens 10.7 per cent.

There is no talk of another grand coalition and negotiations between the CDU/CSU and the only free-market party in Germany, the FDP, haver begun. Between them they will be able to muster 332 seats in the Lower House to the Left's 290. The SPD is definitely out of favour with the German public, having got its lowest share of votes since World War II or, to be precise, the formation of the German Bundesrepublik.

The Telegraph thinks there may be troubles ahead:

The next government faces major economic challenges. It will have to consolidate a surging budget deficit, cope with rising unemployment and ward off a credit crunch. The stock market looked set to open flat.

Mr Pofalla [GenSec of the CDU] said his party was sticking to its election promise of tax cuts.

"We want tax cuts in two steps in the next legislative period which will result in relief of 15 billion euros ($22.03 billion)," he said.

However, the FDP will push for a more ambitious programme. While Mrs Merkel has steadfastly refused to put a timeframe on her party's plans, given the dire state of public finances, the FDP campaigned for quick cuts worth 35 billion euros.

Meanwhile, one of the hurdles for the Constitutional Lisbon Treaty is out of the way.

Ahead of her victory in the German bundestag elections, there was a boost for Angela Merkel who had devoted a great deal of energy into pushing forward the Lisbon Treaty – the September 25 2009 signing of the treaty in Berlin by German president Horst Koehler.

Earlier, both houses of Germany’s parliament approved legislation to ensure that the country’s constitution and the Lisbon Treaty were mutually compatible.

With German ratification of the treaty, the solution put forward in the wake of the European Constitution debacle, Lisbon has now been ratified by all EU member states except Poland, the Czech Republic and Ireland.

Not exactly unexpected: political elites are the same all over Europe. The passing of this treaty has become a matter of pride for them. Unless it is done, they cannot pretend to be in charge of the masses.

So it is now up to the Irish electorate and the Czech constitutional court. And our own Conservatives will do such things ....