German Election #1: Dedicated Briefings and Overviews

On 23 February 2025, almost 60 million German voters will elect a new federal parliament in snap elections after the collapse of the governing coalition of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) with the Greens (B90/Die Grünen) and the Liberals (FDP) in November 2024. A change of government with the participation of the Conservatives (CDU/CSU) and their lead candidate for Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, seems likely. In addition, a spin-off of the Left Party (BSW) will be a new party on the ballot, which has already entered government coalitions in two federal states. Polls show that the AfD will likely emerge from the elections as the strongest opposition party. All other parties have indicated not to enter a coalition with the right-wing party. Irrespective of who wins, a change in the political majorities in Germany is to be expected, which will also have an impact on European and international politics. Freshfields has the latest developments and positioning in view. In this article, we will focus on the parties’ European policy.

Digital

A digital ministry, higher cybersecurity standards, data protection and the rise of AI – find out how the political parties plan to strike a balance between protection and digital transformation in our digitisation briefing and manifesto roundup (English version / German version).

Energy

As much as the political parties agree on the importance of energy and climate policy, their positions on achieving climate neutrality vary. Take a look at the ideas, covering electricity production, energy prices and heat, in our energy briefing and manifesto summary (English version / German version).

Real Estate

With a consensus regarding the problems in the German housing markets, the political parties disagree on the regulatory tools. Find out more about housing policies and rent caps in our real estate briefing and our summary of the parties' manifestos (English version / German version).

Company law & Reporting obligations 

Read our Company Law & Reporting Obligations briefing and our manifesto summary (English version / German version) to find out more about the positions on the German Supply Act, the EU Supply Chain Directive and the Green Deal.

Taxes

Whether it's general tax policy, corporate tax law or tax administration, the political parties are united in their disagreement and propose very different tools to revitalise the stagnating German economy. Our tax briefing and the election manifestos summary (English version / German version) provide information on the parties' positions on issues such as wealth tax, VAT rates and corporate taxation.

Competition law

Aware of the growing importance of the global market, the political parties have different ambitions. Find out who wants to modernise competition law, who wants to strengthen the competent authorities to create transparency and who wants to protect SMEs and consumers more effectively against monopolies in our competition law briefing and manifesto roundup (English version / German version).

EU policies

As the largest EU Member States is calling almost 60 million voters to the polls, many European spectators take a closer look on the EU policies in the party manifestos. Learn more about the ideas of the main political parties on European competitiveness, bureaucracy reduction and institutional reforms in our EU policy briefing and our manifesto overview (English version / German version).

Dispute Resolution

The new legislature should usher in a new pact for the rule of law, the digitisation of the judiciary and the fight against money laundering. You can read more about how this should be set up and other demands in our legal policy briefing and overview of the parties' manifestos (English version / German version).

Full version

You want to have it all in one place? Our full version of the comparative summary of the parties’ manifestos can be found here: English version / German version.

This blog post is part of our German Election Supercycle series.

Co-Author: Sophie Stellmann, Public Affairs Germany research assistant