Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc has won a lacklustre victory in Germany’s national election while the anti-migrant Alternative for Germany party managed a triumphant entry into parliament, projections have shown.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged her supporters to keep up the momentum in the final hours before tomorrow's national election, urging a last push to try to sway undecided voters.

German chancellor Angela Merkel’s allies in Bavaria stepped up criticism of her open-door refugee policy yesterday, with their leader demanding a cap of 200,000 migrants a year, about a fifth of last year’s level.

Bavarian allies cranked up pressure on German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday to reverse her “open-door” refugee policy, saying the deadly attacks in Paris underlined the need for tougher measures to control the influx of migrants.

Europe’s refugee crisis can only be solved “step by step” with EU nations and Turkey working together, German chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday, dismissing the latest jab from a prominent domestic critic.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras made a new offer on reforms to foreign creditors yesterday, signaling 11th-hour concessions to break a deadlock pushing Greece to the brink of bankruptcy.

German chancellor Angela Merkel faces increased dissent within her governing coalition over extending Greece’s bailout as part of her goal of keeping the eurozone intact.

Get a taste of some of the interesting and quirky happenings in Europe from our Europe correspondent, Ann Cahill.

Germany’s governing coalition is squabbling over calls to restrict welfare payments to European immigrants as Europe’s labour markets open to Romanians and Bulgarians.

German chancellor Angela Merkel clinched a coalition deal with the Social Democrats yesterday that preserved Berlin’s strict approach towards struggling European partners.

Official results confirm that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives have won Germany’s election but indicate they have finished short of an absolute majority.

Chancellor Angela Merkel is strongly favoured to win a third term at the helm of Europe’s biggest economy as Germans vote in a national election..

Chancellor Angela Merkel looked on track to win a third term in this weekend’s election in Germany but faced a battle to preserve her centre-right majority and avert a potentially divisive coalition with her arch rivals, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).

Angela Merkel’s allies swept to victory in a state poll in Bavaria yesterday, winning enough support to regain the absolute majority they had lost in 2008 and boosting the chancellor and her conservatives a week before a German federal election.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s challenger in the German election accused her in a television debate yesterday of crushing southern European countries with austerity, declaring her euro crisis strategy a failure.

The chief of the Bundesbank is an austerity advocate, but his calls for further action, as well as the move to closer fiscal union, have seen him compared to the German leader who preceded Hitler, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

Angela Merkel’s coalition seemed dangerously close to rupture when her Free Democrat (FDP) partners defied the chancellor and backed an opposition candidate for the German presidency, centre-right coalition sources admitted.

Angela Merkel's centre-right coalition is squabbling so much over the eurozone debt crisis that even the opposition is urging her to quash the infighting.

OFFICIALS from German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition sent a tough message to Greece yesterday that it might have to leave the eurozone if it fails to meet conditions for its bailout.

GERMANY’S Angela Merkel faced mounting domestic criticism of her eurozone policies yesterday, with the Bundesbank slamming an anti-crisis package she agreed in Brussels last month anda senior ally warning he would vote againstkey parts of it.

GERMANY’S Angela Merkel faced mounting domestic criticism of her eurozone policies yesterday, with the Bundesbank slamming an anti-crisis package she agreed in Brussels last month anda senior ally warning he would vote againstkey parts of it.

THE European Central Bank’s move to buy Italian and Spanish bonds to tame the region’s debt crisis marks a step toward the kind of fiscal union that Germany has opposed since the founding of the single currency.

Angela Merkel was sworn in for a second term as German chancellor today, a month after her party won national elections.

Final results confirmed Chancellor Angela Merkel won a second term and a majority for a new centre-right government in Germany’s parliamentary election.

The beer-loving governor of Bavaria was forced to climb down after claiming that some people can drive safely after drinking four pints.

BAVARIA’S most glamorous politician, a flame-haired motorcyclist who helped bring down state premier Edmund Stoiber, has shocked the Catholic state by suggesting marriage should last just seven years.

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government came under attack yesterday from leaders in her own party as the conservatives fell to a record low in opinion polls amid public anger over rising taxes and stymied reform efforts.

ANGELA MERKEL becomes Germany’s eighth post-war chancellor today - but only after being forced into awkward compromises on taxes and welfare-state reforms that could undermine her coalition and slow efforts to fix a lagging economy.

Conservative and centre-left leaders today signed the agreement to form a coalition government – the last step before Angela Merkel can be elected Germany’s chancellor.

Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic party today overwhelmingly approved a coalition agreement with Social Democrats that will make her Germany’s first woman chancellor.

Members of Germany’s leading parties were expected today to approve the 143-page agreement that would see a left-right coalition take power, with Angela Merkel as the country’s first woman chancellor.

Chancellor-designate Angela Merkel today defended her coalition’s programme of hefty tax hikes and benefit cuts as the right action for creating jobs, stimulating growth and putting Germany back among Europe’s top three countries.

GERMANY’S biggest political parties reached a deal last night to form a coalition government, sealing an accord that would make Angela Merkel the nation’s first woman chancellor.

Germany’s main parties have come one step closer to building a coalition, agreeing on several points including raising the retirement age and a policy on Turkey, but they still must overcome the hurdle of plugging a huge budget shortfall.

THE future of Germany’s left-right coalition was thrown into deeper confusion last night after a senior conservative quit the planned government following an internal crisis in the Social Democrats.

Edmund Stoiber, who was set to become Germany’s economy minister, announced today that he would not participate in the incoming government.

A senior conservative’s participation in Germany’s proposed new left-right government was in doubt today as politicians struggled to digest the implications of a sudden leadership crisis in the centre-left Social Democrats.

Germany’s newly-elected parliament was to convene for its first meeting today, one month after voters failed to give either centre-left or centre-right alliances a majority.

Germany’s conservatives are moving toward completing the lineup of Chancellor-designate Angela Merkel’s cabinet, with a key ally preparing to nominate his final choice for the new government.

Chancellor-designate Angela Merkel will have only limited authority in Germany’s planned left-right government, leaders of its two main parties said, as they prepared today for the start of full-blown coalition negotiations.

Conservative leader Angela Merkel and Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder headed into a showdown today over who will lead a new government, seeking to end a post-election stalemate that is delaying efforts to tackle Germany’s stubborn economic problems.

Conservative challenger Angela Merkel is still pressing hard to replace Gerhard Schroeder as chancellor of Germany after the two opponents held another meeting to try to hammer out a coalition accord.

Germany’s top political leaders were to meet today at a summit aimed at resolving their two-and-a-half-week stand-off over who will lead the country, with Angela Merkel’s conservatives hopeful Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder will let go of the top job.

CHANCELLOR Gerhard Schroeder yesterday signalled he may be ready to relinquish power two weeks after Germany’s most inconclusive post-war election, saying he would accept any decision his party takes.