Germany's new governing coalition unveiled

As a quick summary: Germany voted for a new parliament back in late September, with Merkel's CDU/CSU losing lots of votes, barely falling behind the social-democrats. This came after Merkel deciding to retire, and a slightly dirty power struggle within the conservative party coalition. The far-right AfD retained its vote-share, the far-left Die Linke lost quite a bit, and both the neoliberal FDP and the centre-left Greens gained substantially. Now a coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP reached a deal to make a new government. Olaf Scholz, the current finance minister, will become the new chancellor.

Some of the key policy changes are summarized in the article:

- The parties agreed that Germany will ideally phase out coal by 2030

- Increase rail freight transport by 25% and to have at least 15 million electric cars on the roads by 2030

- Push for a European air travel surcharge like the one that is already in place in Germany

- Immigrants able to apply for citizenship after five years & allow dual citizenship - a huge change for thousands of ethnic Turks, many of whom remain foreign nationals after decades in Germany

- 12 euro minimum wage

- Plans to legalize the regulated sale of cannabis

- Aim to build 400,000 new apartments a year to fight a housing crisis, lower the voting age to 16 and create a points-based immigration system to draw in qualified workers

As a disclaimer, the majority in the Bundesrat, equivalent to the US Senate, is different, and some of these policy changes would require majorities in both houses.