Gretchen Vogel's Take on Science and the German Election. (September 25, 2013)

Physical chemist Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) fell just short of gaining an absolute majority in the recent German federal elections, and the tip is that her minor coalition partner is to be the Sozialdemokratische Partei (SPD), Social Democratic Party.

In Ms Vogel's view: "Germany’s 'Energiewende,' the effort to transition away from nuclear and fossil fuels toward renewables, is likely to continue no matter what coalition forms. All the parties have ambitious carbon dioxide-reduction goals in their platforms [and both the] CDU and SPD see efficient coal- and gas-fired electricity plants as an acceptable and important bridge technology."

She also highlights the matters of refinancing research funding because "Several big funding programs run out between 2015 and 2019, and the next government will shape their replacements. There is broad support across parties, however, for continuing the programs in some form".

And then there is the  perennial problem of passing "a constitutional amendment that research leaders have long argued is essential: allowing the federal government to finance universities directly. (Now, only the Länder, or states, are allowed to directly fund education.) Previous attempts at reform have been blocked by disagreement between CDU and SPD over whether to lift the ban just at the university level—the CDU preference—or whether to allow federal funding for preschools through universities, as the SPD wants. A grand coalition might force compromise on the issue".