Germany elected a new Bundestag on 24 September 2017. CDU, CSU, FDP and the Greens then held exploratory talks, Sondierungsgespräche, for about four weeks. On 19 November 2017, the FDP ended them. CDU, CSU and SPD then held their own exploratory talks. They finished them on 12 January 2018 with a 28-page paper. On 7 February 2018 they agreed on a coalition agreement. The SPD put it to a vote of its members, and 66.02 percent of those who voted approved. On 14 March 2018 the Bundestag elected Angela Merkel chancellor for the fourth time. The Bundestag counted 171 days since the election, a new record. The previous record was 86 days, in 2013.
Two Weeks With the Draft
A German who buys an apartment from a developer signs the contract in front of a notary. The Notarization Act, the Beurkundungsgesetz, sets a waiting period before that appointment. The consumer should have ausreichend Gelegenheit …, sich vorab mit dem Gegenstand der Beurkundung auseinanderzusetzen, enough opportunity to study the deed in advance. The notary should send the draft to the consumer. Dies soll im Regelfall zwei Wochen vor der Beurkundung erfolgen. As a rule, this should happen two weeks before the notarization. If the period is shorter, the notary should write the reasons into the deed. The rule is a response to the so-called Mitternachtsnotare, midnight notaries. These notaries worked inside the sales networks of property agents. A sales agent called a potential buyer and praised an apartment. At the next meeting, the agent took the buyer to the notary to sign. Since October 2013 the notary must send the draft himself.
Fourteen Days to Change Your Mind
A salesman rings the doorbell, and the customer signs a contract in the living room. German law gives the customer 14 days to undo it. The Civil Code grants a right of withdrawal, the Widerrufsrecht, for contracts concluded outside business premises. Die Widerrufsfrist beträgt 14 Tage. The period of withdrawal is 14 days. Der Widerruf muss keine Begründung enthalten. The withdrawal does not need to give a reason. The rule goes back to the law on doorstep sales, which came into force on 1 May 1986 and gave the customer one week. Today the period is set by EU law. Since 2014, the German law also names Kaffeefahrten expressly, the bus outings on which the organizer sells goods to the passengers. The reason for the rule is surprise. The EU directive on doorstep sales of 1985 spoke of an Überrumpelungseffekt, an effect of being taken by surprise. The customer closes the deal ohne ausreichende Überlegung, without enough thought.
Sleeping On It
überschlafen — To sleep on something. Duden defines it as thinking over a matter that needs a decision, and taking time for it at least until the next day. Das muss ich erst noch überschlafen. I have to sleep on that first.
sich Bedenkzeit erbitten — To ask for time to think. Ich habe mir bis morgen Bedenkzeit erbeten. I have asked for time to think until tomorrow.
Kommt Zeit, kommt Rat. — When time comes, advice comes. With time, a solution will be found.
Blinder Eifer schadet nur. — Blind zeal only does harm.
Words for Stalling
etwas auf die lange Bank schieben — To push something onto the long bench. It means to postpone it. The etymological dictionary cited by DWDS traces the phrase to the 15th century, when court files were put into long chests for storage.
die Hängepartie — The hanging game. In chess, it is a game that is stopped and continued later. In politics, it is a matter that stays open for a long time.
das Zeitspiel — Playing for time. In football, it is an unfair way to protect a lead. In politics, it is waiting that someone uses on purpose. Opposition wirft Koalition Zeitspiel vor. The opposition accuses the coalition of playing for time.
All three words are critical. Time to think is welcome, but time used as a tactic is not.
Twenty-Four Hours to Comment
Before the federal government sends a bill to the Bundestag, the ministry asks associations for their opinion. This is the Verbändeanhörung. The rules of procedure of the federal ministries require that associations be involved in good time, but they leave the length of the deadline to the ministry. In August 2023, the Chancellery gave associations a little more than 24 hours to comment on an 88-page draft of the law on the foreign intelligence service. Reporters Without Borders called it ein Trauerspiel, a sad spectacle. The critics asked for Gründlichkeit vor Schnelligkeit, thoroughness before speed. A paper published by the association Mehr Demokratie in May 2024 looked at 496 bills. The average deadline was 15.4 working days. The authors proposed at least four weeks.
Declared Done Too Early
The European Union and the South American Mercosur states negotiated a free trade agreement from 1999. After an EU summit in October 2025, Chancellor Friedrich Merz told journalists: Es gibt aus den Mitgliedstaaten jetzt keine Vorbehalte mehr. Es ist erledigt. Es ist durch. There are no more reservations from the member states. It is done. It is through. The President of the European Council, António Costa, contradicted him: Wir haben darüber nicht diskutiert. Wir haben keine Entscheidungen getroffen. We did not discuss it. We made no decisions. A German news report ran the headline Vorschneller Merz, hasty Merz. A majority of EU member states approved the agreement on 9 January 2026.
The Dictated Peace
The German delegation was not allowed to take part in the negotiations on the Treaty of Versailles. It could only submit written objections after the terms were presented. On 12 May 1919, the head of the government, Philipp Scheidemann, asked the National Assembly: Welche Hand müsste nicht verdorren, die sich und uns in solche Fesseln legte? What hand would not wither that put itself and us in such chains? On 28 June 1919, two German ministers signed under protest, after an ultimatum. Most Germans saw the treaty as an illegitimate and humiliating Diktat. Das Versailler Diktat became a political slogan. Revising the treaty was a declared goal of German foreign policy throughout the Weimar Republic. In 1932, Theodor Heuss wrote that the starting point of the National Socialist movement was not Munich, but Versailles.
The Fight over Fiscal Equalization
In March 2013 Bavaria and Hesse took the Länderfinanzausgleich, the system by which richer German states pay money to poorer ones, to the Federal Constitutional Court. In 2012 the system had redistributed 7.9 billion euros, and Bavaria paid about half of it. The two state leaders, Horst Seehofer and Volker Bouffier, called the system unsolide, ungerecht und leistungsfeindlich, unsound, unjust and hostile to effort. Bouffier said: Wer sich anstrengt, muss auch etwas davon haben. Whoever makes an effort must also get something out of it. In December 2016 the chancellor and the state leaders agreed on a new system from 2020, in which the federal government took on a larger share. In September 2017 Bavaria and Hesse withdrew their lawsuit.
The López Effect
In 1993 Ferdinand Piëch brought José Ignacio López from General Motors to Volkswagen. VW created a new board position for him, responsible for production optimization and purchasing. López forced the supplier industry into concessions it had never made before. With the suppliers he accepted, he fixed purchase prices in writing for the next five years, and the prices fell each year. He was called the Würger von Wolfsburg, the strangler of Wolfsburg. He left VW in 1996. His name stayed in the language. The López-Effekt does not mean savings. It means cheap and often defective parts.
The term names what came after the squeeze. Lower prices were followed by lower quality.