CSU's Hoffmann calls black-red coalition an eight-year project, dismisses Greens as reform partner

The eight-year horizon

CSU state group leader Alexander Hoffmann has framed the black-red coalition as a project extending beyond the next federal election. In an interview with the Deutsche Presse-Agentur published on 15 July 2026, he said the reform agenda required a stable, capable centrist coalition and that he saw that capacity only in the Union and SPD. "And this model should then sensibly be designed for eight years," Hoffmann said.

Critique of the Greens

Hoffmann denied the Greens, the third centrist party in the Bundestag, the will to pursue reforms. He cited their attempt to have the statutory health insurance reform halted by the Federal Constitutional Court. He also accused the Greens of conducting the reform debate "with populist insinuations." "The Greens are obviously not strong enough at the moment to be able to push through reforms," he said.

Praise for Merz

Asked whether he wanted Friedrich Merz to serve another term as chancellor of a black-red government, Hoffmann deflected toward the present. "We are concentrating on the here and now. A successful coalition with a strong, decisive chancellor who, incidentally, has also brought Germany back onto the international stage," he said.

We are concentrating on the here and now. A successful coalition with a strong, decisive chancellor who, incidentally, has also brought Germany back onto the international stage.

Electoral arithmetic

CDU, CSU and SPD together won 44.9 percent of the vote in the February 2025 federal election, securing a narrow majority of twelve seats in the Bundestag. Current polling puts the three parties at only 32 to 37 percent, a range that would no longer yield a majority.

Reform package context

Hoffmann's remarks follow the reform decisions of recent weeks, which the coalition has presented as a completed package. The CSU politician argued the scale of reform needs could only be met by a centrist coalition with the Union and SPD, dismissing the Greens as a viable partner for that work.