we are proving that we can be split. and we will therefore be a strong. party and we will ensure a good future for the end. which always means a good future for germany. so all of you who fought as hard as you did and maybe all of you have a hard night and i didn't want to. we would have liked an easier night so. it would have been better for us but i personally wish all of you and i want to say thank you to all of you. in the last few months i don't even know how to put it in words the kind of passion that i saw the kind of emotion and a sense of human connection. that for the rest of my life i will stay in my heart i thank you. so let's

there head of the as p.d. party addressing the party supporters there and as speedy headquarters in berlin he spoke very much of the future we heard him say that sometimes the opposition is more important than the government and we know that that is his intention to be the leader of the opposition there in the german bundestag he also said that as soon as one match is over you have to think about the next so not focusing so much about the mistakes of the past but rather the plan for the future and i understand that our correspondent is standing by for us at s.p.d. headquarters let's see if we can bring in thomas sparrow with the very latest and thomas you know what do you make of this speech that we just heard from him and just his tone generally speaking over the past twenty four hours. sorry you summed it up perfectly i completely agree with your assessment that it was martin shows

trying to focus on the future of us lee it is clear that the party made plenty of mistakes in the past few months and years but this was martin shows right behind us here at the s.p.d. headquarters trying to present what the party will look like in the future that is obviously still unclear that's something that party groups will start to discuss today today we will have the the first party meeting to try and precisely fill that assessment with content filled that idea that the s.p.d. will be the strongest party in opposition with concrete proposals and concrete also figures it is still unclear for example who would be the parliamentary leader when the s.p.d. becomes the largest party in opposition does something else that leaders are going to be discussing here today in the s.p.d. but again what was important from martin shows just now is trying to present

a vision forward for the video as you yourself said using a phrase from the football was something that he particularly likes you know the first time that he uses football to try and compare the sport with his own career and something that he did here today to say well after the match is also before the match and this is a new phase for the s.p.d. a new phase in opposition and new phase indeed thomas ferro with the very latest from the s.p.d. headquarters thank you so much for putting it all into context for us. well let's head now to our panel of experts who are here in the studio to talk a little bit more about the s.p.d. entering the opposition we are joined of course fire our political correspondent hans browne to see him sitting here just next to me and oliver limca joins us rejoins us we have to say again from schiller university. i was hunting you first what do you make of what we just heard there from the s.p. there. well it was an upbeat surprisingly upbeat address clearly

it's trying to prepare his party is trying to give the party a kind of push an emotional look forward to the future as an opposition in parliament and he's hoping that that will give his party nouveau new profile new ideas and probably even new people. yes i think in fact that happened practically five minutes after the results were announced yesterday even last night in the television discussions that martin short's participated in he was a lot more combative especially criticizing going to moscow than he had been during the entire election campaign and you know and one has to wonder where was this martin schulz actually during the campaign because you know his party very optimistic when he when he first was unanimously voted by the party in order to be their candidate for chancellor in fact. what would you say oliver i mean what do you make of this change of tone perhaps from charles now the new role i would say

he's embracing his new role as c.e.o. position leader but he of course he has also to come for to is his. his party and tool to thank them for them indeed good campaign that they delivered it so that was part of i think of what we see and what we heard but the new role is decisive and within this new role the party i think the s.p.d. the social democrats have to eventually pose a question which comes as sort of uncomfortable for them means what i would full what what is the role what why do we need to the social democrats in parliament so to say so that is the question i think you have to take with and it's going to be a very difficult one. surely university in our very own hands but we thank you very much for joining us here in the studio after a short break we're going to have a look at the challenges facing german society.

quadriga special master the german born to stop the election journalists discuss the last twenty seven germany has voted. how should we interpret the election results what do they mean for the european union. after the german election international from berlin.

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that the human right will. put their trust in us. and i work. alone a very warm welcome indeed to this special edition of quadriga coming to you from the heart of berlin where heads are still spinning after sunday's election outcome angle americal secured a fourth term in office as chancellor but who will be joining her in government will only become clear in the days or more likely the weeks that lie ahead the chancellor social democratic rival martin schulz failed to convince enough voters that he should get the job and save the s.p.d.

will now lead the opposition but for many the clear winners in this election are the third placed alternative for germany the far right a.f.d. who have made it into the bundestag for the very first time so today on quadriga we're examining the election results here in germany and their significance for germany europe and the rest of the world election twenty seventeen germany has voted in to discuss the latest developments i'm joined here in the studio by three astute observers of german politics beginning with van and zoller who was for many years with germany's a.r.d. t.v. network and one of the best known correspondents reporting on the german politics. also with us is alan posner a regular columnist for the berlin based newspaper debo hello alan and a warm welcome to today w.'s political correspondent michelle or michelle i would like to begin with you victory for angela merkel she has secured what is an

historic fourth term in office but her conservatives got the worst result since nine hundred forty nine would you say. yes well parties won the elections but this was by no stretch of the imagination a victory she will go down in history as. he's managed to basically impose her own political brand on the c.d.u. party and it looks like own party is now paying dearly at the polls here and money and she herself finds herself in a position where she is weakened as somebody tossed with putting together a coalition now looking on to germany from the outside and having the german chancellor i'm going to mack will remain a fixture here suggests that they will be continuity that there will be stability that you can still expect what's coming out of germany in terms of policy but this is a very different political game both in the parliament now and also in terms of which

options are on the table to form a government that is on a what do you say how wounded is uncle america stres very much weaker. germany will be less predictable in the future with this new coalition which is the only real option and that is the so-called john mica coalition where you will explain what that means. for the question of the greens and liberals and as they do and this will be coalition that will be hung very hard to form and it will take a lot of time and very open how this will play out. and imposing what do you say this the outcome of this election is being described as a reality check for germany especially in light of the f.t. moving into the bundestag. no i don't think it's a reality check at all. thirteen percent of people who voted for the fifty voted for a totally unrealistic form of course they could discuss that later so it's not

a reality check what i think is a very good thing is that the grand so-called grand coalition between michael and the s.p.d. which harmed her and harmed the s.p.d. has been broken the s.p.d. is going into opposition good thing secondly we're going to have a coalition of the center right including the greens good thing. whether america is weakened or not she has a mandate the moment she's formed a government she's the head of government and you know polls go up and down the point is she will still be the woman you have to reckon with during the next four years in europe in the world in germany of course so i don't know. it's neither reality check nor can one say america is weakened because there's no one else in the party who is going to challenge her but when you look at people commenting on the only i have to. put pending entry into the german parliament you know people talk about them marching into parliament people the financial times talks about

some little soft cocktail being lobbed into the hearts of german democracy is that sensationalism. well to use the term monitor of which i mean you know the name. seems a bit strange in the context of a sort of right wing extremist party which they are look at the polls were predicting something like this for weeks and people in britain i mean talking to all sorts of big giving interviews for the past two weeks to b.b.c. and co and they never wanted to hear about the f.t. suddenly they wake up so if it's a reality check it's a reality check for the international press we in germany we knew what was going to happen we've had the good twenty four percent in in regional elections in east germany and they've got similar numbers now so come on. this is. the new reality in the buddhist time but that doesn't mean.

you know that it's going to change the way the way well let's go to it we've got a clip now let me to let me bring this clip in of alexander garland one of the. co-leaders let's listen to what he had to say this is. very familiar this is what happened this morning in german politics new developments from compatriot one of the co-chairs of the fifty. upping awaiting from a press conference that they were giving here. she's one of the most familiar faces internationally from the party and i think this is maybe an indication of potential further divisions within the party maybe the policy might even explode. what. what how could he said that she wanted her party to be a conservative opposition and ready for government in twenty twenty one of the next election and she's with this action she's shown that she doesn't believe the party leadership power and co. going to do that what they're going to do is fundamental

opposition and you know and she's right this is what's going to happen to the police party is going to be more and more radical and is not that is why they're not actually going to upset german politics because they're not going to be right if a government the way the links passed by the left party hasn't been ready for government for the past twenty is so that leigh leaves the others to sort out the real things of politics of course the question is obvious the question is do we see the beginning of a split within the e.u. we have seen it before the founding fathers of the left the party look a long time ago like all of hanging. all left they really wanted a conservative. party and now they are faced with a party that has of course a lot of conservative elements but that about a party that also has a lot of radicals. inside of this

party i'm not saying that they are the majority but they are certainly an important element within the d. and fall compatriot once different and therefore the question is do we see this morning the beginning of a split within this party and i dare say the f.t. has already upset takes they elect them mock not just on this election campaign. we see all parties concerning themselves on how they can keep the a if the day ahead of this election this historic result for them of this very young party that clearly is not afraid of using very right wing terminology and has declared that they will hunt the government that they will and basically what they're saying is i think they want to heckle the parliaments that they want to hold them to account of the big question is will they remain close in democracy all will they become part of what they look down on as the establishment right now right now and

actually want to develop more policies than being against the migration policy against the euro when you talk about them hunting down their opponents let's go to that clip that i just wanted to see earlier of alexander go and see what he has to say about precisely that. german government which every way it is formed shall dress warmly we will hug them. we will hunt mrs merkel whoever and we will take our country and our people back again. it is incredibly vitriolic language why are they why has a so toxic in their view of the angle america. well they basically have to declare that in a way they've set off a political brand as well being anti machall also looking at polling that actually

is a significant proportion of german voters who felt that twelve years is enough american anyway so they tap into this right wing rhetoric they. are going on just in the middle of this campaign saying it's time for germany should draw a line to be proud of the military achievements of german soldiers in world war two and then basically saying well i don't really see what the problem is that's what falls for me to all sit i'm just quoting him and it's this kind of new mechanism that is breaking a consensus here in germany amongst not just the launch parties but also those parties already in opposition that is not something you toy with and. strikes me most when i hear the song but this is one hundred percent donald trump. absolutely the same and i think a lot of what we see here you see in the united states and so you can argue that germany is becoming a normal country. a lot of people that the show shocked when they when they hear

this but when you look around all over the globe especially in europe france the netherlands poland hungary the united states you have movements like this and in that in that sense germany becomes a normal country whether we like that or not i don't make that very clear. pretty up is this is what is happening right now now and you're shaking your head well i'm shaking my head for the. for several reasons firstly donald trump is in addition to american populism which is quite different from german right wing movements of the past and present you can't compare them what i got on with saying that i know him very well this was actually not too.