Same old, same old? The return of the (not so) Grand Coalition after the 2025 German Bundestag election

After the implosion of the traffic-light coalition in the face of the consequences of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and budgetary limitations that exacerbated its internal contradictions, Germany experienced a short but harsh election campaign. Economic and fiscal policy were quickly overshadowed by the issue of immigration (yet again) and the related question of how hermetic the cordon sanitaire should be. The elections allowed for the return of the classic Grand Coalition format (Christian Democrats and Social Democrats) but its current edition is seemingly quite different, both in size and in functioning. Contrary to some campaign proclamations, the new government will have to continue working with the Greens (and sometimes also the Socialists) if it wants to get many kinds of legislation done given the set-up of the political system. All the while, the spectre of cooperation between Christian Democrats and the populist radical right looms large.