On the evening of the local date, the results of the German federal parliamentary election were announced. At a time when Trump's return to the White House has caused significant shockwaves in Europe, this German election is seen as a pivotal vote determining the future of Europe, drawing global attention.

According to the election results, the center-right Union Party came in first with a vote share of .%, the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) secured .%, and the Social Democratic Party (SPD), to which incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz belongs, received .%. This means the Union Party will regain the power to form a government, while the far-right AfD has rapidly risen to become the second-largest party in the German parliament for the first time, signaling a major reshuffle in Germany's political landscape.

After winning the election, Merz publicly stated that the remarks made by U.S. President Trump last week clearly demonstrated that the current U.S. administration is indifferent to the fate of Europe, and he harbors no illusions about the United States. The German Federal Election Committee announced the preliminary results of the Federal Assembly (lower house of parliament) election in the early hours of the month.

A globally watched general election. Germany's election cycle is annual, and under normal arrangements, the general election was originally scheduled for [month]. However, in [month] last year, the three-party ruling coalition (SPD-Greens-FDP) collapsed due to disagreements over fiscal and tax policies. Subsequently, Chancellor Scholz failed to secure a majority in the confidence vote held on [date]. As a result, the general election was held ahead of schedule. *Note: Please replace the placeholders like [month] and [date] with the specific months and dates from the original text, as they were missing in the provided content. The translation assumes the structure is accurate but requires the exact time references for completeness.*

Reshaping the political landscape. Due to Scholz's decline in power, the SPD suffered a significant setback this time. The CDU/CSU alliance, composed of the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union, regained dominance, becoming the largest party in parliament with a vote share of %, marking the return of center-right conservative forces.

与此同时，带有极右翼民粹色彩的选择党则被视为此次大选的“最大赢家”，以20.8%的高票率首度成为议会第二大党，创下该党成立以来最好成绩，相比上一次大选的得票率几乎翻倍。（另见本号文Chapter: "Germany Has Another 'Iron Lady'?"）

This reflects the growing discontent in German society over issues such as immigration and economic stagnation, with a notable rise in populist forces and the emergence of far-right movements. Meanwhile, left-wing parties like the SPD (Social Democratic Party) and the Greens have significantly declined, fully illustrating the German electorate's disappointment with the Scholz government.

On the local date of [year, month, day], Alice Weidel, leader of the Alternative for Germany party, celebrated the exit poll results.

The United States intervened. The reason this German election has attracted widespread attention is primarily due to the strong interference and excessive involvement of the United States following Trump's return. Even before Trump officially took office, he had already shown strong support for Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). His political ally, Musk, publicly declared his support for the AfD on social media, stating, "The AfD, led by Weidel, is the future of Germany, and Weidel is the one who can truly save Germany."

At Trump's inauguration, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was not invited to attend, while Alice Weidel received an invitation, fully demonstrating Trump's political strategy of fostering the rise of Germany's far-right forces. On [specific date], during the Munich Security Conference, U.S. Vice President Vance launched a fierce attack against Europe's traditional establishment figures. After the conference, he outright ignored Scholz and instead held a meeting with Weidel.

Trump and his inner circle leveraged the formidable influence of social media to openly endorse the Alternative for Germany (AfD), drawing strong backlash from Europe's traditional political establishment. However, it's undeniable that this move indeed garnered significant votes for the AfD.

Who Will Be Germany's Next Leader? Since the Union Party has once again become the largest party in parliament, its leader and chairman of the CDU, Friedrich Merz, will assume the role of Germany's next Chancellor. Friedrich Merz, the Union Party's candidate for Chancellor.

The political journey has been full of ups and downs. In [year], Friedrich Merz was born into a Catholic family in Germany. In [year], while still a student, Merz joined the CDU. In [year], at the age of [age], Merz was elected as a member of the European Parliament and quickly made a name for himself in the political arena. Shortly after, Merz shifted his focus from the EU to domestic German politics and entered the Bundestag. In [year], Merz was elected with overwhelming support as the chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, hailed as a rising young "political star."

Young Bundestag member Merz (left) talks with former Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

However, Mertz soon became embroiled in a power struggle within the party with Merkel. Due to their severe disagreements over economic and financial policies, the two ultimately parted ways. In [year], Mertz stepped back from politics and transitioned into a career as a lawyer. In [year], Merkel announced she would not seek re-election as party chair. Shortly afterward, Mertz made a strong comeback into politics and was successfully elected as the chairman of the CDU in [year].

The "German Trump" is known for his tough style. Merz is assertive and often "stuns with his remarks," speaking without restraint, earning him the nickname the "German Trump" due to his strong personal demeanor. On economic issues, Merz advocates for reducing government intervention in the economy, lowering taxes, and promoting free enterprise development, aiming to revitalize German manufacturing through market-oriented reforms.

社会议题上，默茨强调传统价值观，反对堕胎、同性婚姻等社会自由化议题，主张限制移民，加强边境控制，加快驱逐非法移民。（另见本号文章《Adding frost to snow, what's happening in Germany?》）

On the issue of security, Merz emphasized Europe's independence and proposed a "nuclear sharing" plan, advocating for European defense autonomy to reduce reliance on the United States.

The policy towards China has a dual nature. On one hand, Merz recognizes the close economic and trade ties between China and Germany and expresses a willingness to strengthen bilateral cooperation. After Trump took office, the drastic adjustments in U.S. economic policies towards Europe have increased uncertainty for the German economy. As a result, Merz has had to adopt a pragmatic approach in handling Sino-German relations, seeking to navigate Germany out of its current economic downturn.

On the other hand, he has repeatedly taken a tough stance toward China. Merz once referred to China as a "systemic rival" and emphasized "de-risking" in relations with China, which largely aligns with the ideological divide between Europe's traditional center-right and China.

Merkz's highly pragmatic policy towards China is conducive to anchoring the ballast and fundamental aspects of Sino-German relations, providing room for maneuver for the stable development of bilateral relations. However, it must be clearly recognized that Merkz, who comes from the CDU, naturally differs in values from China, which also determines the duality of his policy towards China.

The new government faces a challenging situation. Currently, although the coalition party has become the largest party in parliament, its vote share is far from sufficient to form a government alone. Therefore, the first task is to find a governing partner to establish a new cabinet. On the evening of the election day, Merz declared victory in Berlin and immediately called for the swift formation of a new government, stating, "The world will not wait for Germany; we must quickly become capable of governing."

It's quite a challenge to form a coalition government. Merz must collaborate with other parties to establish a new ruling coalition, but given the significant differences between the Union Party and others on economic, social, and security policies, his path to forming a government is fraught with difficulties.

Cooperating with the SPD. The CDU, led by Merz, and the SPD of current Chancellor Scholz have governed together multiple times and share relatively close policy ideologies. However, the two parties have significant differences on major issues such as deregulation, borders and illegal immigration, and relaxing debt brakes, which create a notable gap in their policy orientations and make cooperation quite challenging.

Cooperating with other political parties. In the days leading up to the general election, Merz relied on the support of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) to pass the anti-immigration motion, the "Immigration Inflow Restriction Act," in a federal vote. This move sparked strong dissatisfaction from the left-wing Greens and the Free Democratic Party (FDP), who were highly critical of Merz's collaboration with the far-right, leading to significant protests and opposition against cooperating with the Union parties. At the same time, considering the Greens' assertive approach in the previous governing coalition, which introduced uncertainty into the coalition government, Merz also faced challenges in forming a cabinet.

Cooperating with the AfD. After World War II, German politics established a long-standing consensus that mainstream parties must not collaborate with populist extremist parties. Therefore, although the AfD has become the second-largest political force in Germany, Friedrich Merz has repeatedly stated that he will not form a governing coalition with the AfD.

However, times have changed. On one hand, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) is gradually toning down its extreme populist rhetoric and moving closer to becoming a rationalist ruling party. On the other hand, the strong support from the Trump administration for the AfD is testing how Merz balances transatlantic relations, and will profoundly influence whether the AfD can enter the ruling coalition.

Amid internal troubles and external threats, the road ahead is fraught with difficulties. The Germany Merz has inherited is now mired in its worst crisis in decades. Currently, the entire Europe faces the deconstruction and reshaping of transatlantic relations, and as the leader of the EU, Germany's every move carries strong indicative significance.

After returning to the White House, Trump threatened to impose tariffs on the EU, bypassed Europe to directly engage with Russia on the Ukraine conflict, and even unusually interfered in the German elections by supporting far-right parties, presenting significant challenges to both Europe and Germany.

On [date], Elon Musk, a close ally of Trump, participated in the German AfD election rally via video.

At the same time, in recent years, the German economy has also faced severe challenges, including prominent issues such as high energy prices, a shrinking manufacturing sector, and lagging digitalization. It is estimated that Germany's economic output shrank by % last year, marking two consecutive years of recession. Faced with this situation, Merz publicly declared that Germany's future foreign policy goal is to free Europe from dependence on the United States and achieve "independence" in defense.

Currently, Europe's overall competitiveness is declining, internal interests and demands are diverging, and coupled with its long-standing dependence on the United States, it is no easy task for the German government to unite EU countries in responding to the shocks from Trump in areas such as trade and security. Under Merkel's leadership...