No statements, no press conferences, no situation reports – and no selfies.
The rules are tough ahead of the government talks in Germany, where election winner Friedrich Merz will try to stitch together a coalition between Christian Democrats and Social Democrats.
According to German media, which have taken part of the instructions to the negotiating teams, Merz wants to avoid a fiasco at all costs after the 2017 election, when the Christian Democratic CDU/CSU attempted to form a government with the liberal FDP and The Greens. For weeks, pictures were published of happy negotiators chatting, taking a cigarette on the balcony, and waving to photographers. In the end, the talks collapsed, and many saw the lack of discretion as one of the reasons.
In that respect, Olaf Scholz did better when he formed a government with FDP and The Greens four years later. Those talks now seem to be seen as a source of inspiration.
By March 24 at the latest, the working groups from CDU/CSU and SPD must present their results.
