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Germany’s SPD at odds over coalition plan

Leading members of Germany's Social Democrats voiced scepticism Sunday over a preliminary coalition agreement reached with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, days after the hard-fought deal was hailed as a breakthrough.

Published: 14 January 2018 17:22 CET
Germany's SPD at odds over coalition plan
Berlin's SPD Mayor Michael Müller with Angela Merkel. File photo: DPA

Berlin's SPD Mayor Michael Müller said he was “very critical” about entering into another government with Merkel's CDU/CSU bloc after all three parties slumped to their worst results in decades in last September's election.

“The same coalition with the same policies is not the right answer,” the centre-left politician told the Tagesspiegel daily, calling for “further talks” to win more concessions on key SPD demands.

Party leaders on Friday announced after tortuous negotiations that they had signed off on a policy blueprint paving the way for formal coalition discussions to begin after months of paralysis in Europe's top economy.

In the 28-page document, the parties agreed to join France in a push to “strengthen and reform” the eurozone, to limit the influx of asylum seekers to Germany to around 200,000 a year, and to refrain from tax hikes.

But Müller lamented the SPD's failure to secure a tax hike for the rich or a restructuring of the country's two-tier health care system — two major campaign pledges.

Those concerns were echoed by the SPD's Malu Dreyer, premier of Rhineland-Palatinate state, who also slammed the compromise to cap immigration.

The migration stance outlined in the roadmap was “very difficult” for the SPD, she told the German newspaper group Funke Mediengruppe.

The criticism will make for uncomfortable reading for SPD chief Martin Schulz, who has promised to give party members the last word on a third stint as Merkel's junior coalition partner.

In a sign of the difficulties ahead, SPD delegates at a regional party conference in Saxony-Anhalt on Saturday narrowly voted against starting formal coalition talks.

Spiegel news weekly said the non-binding vote was “hugely symbolic” coming just a day after the in-principle agreement “that Schulz is trying to sell as a success”.

The stakes will be higher next Saturday, when 600 party delegates will be asked to give the green light at a congress, followed by a final vote by more than 400,000 rank-and-file members.

The SPD's youth wing chief Kevin Kühnert has vowed to spend the coming days criss-crossing the country to press his case against a new grand coalition, known as “GroKo” in German political shorthand.

Top conservative lawmaker Alexander Dobrindt of Merkel's Bavarian CSU sister party urged Schulz to nip the potential revolt in the bud.

“Martin Schulz must now show that the SPD can be a reliable coalition partner and get this brouhaha under control,” Dobrindt told the Bild am Sonntag daily.

The SPD initially vowed to go into opposition after scoring a humiliating 20.5 percent in the September ballot.

But former EU Parliament chief Schulz faced pressure to reconsider after Merkel's efforts to forge a government with two smaller parties collapsed in November.

Merkel, whose political life is on the line after more than 12 years in power, has welcomed the coalition blueprint as “a fresh start” for Germany and Europe.

Commentators however have already described a possible repeat of the left-right alliance as a “coalition of losers”.

READ ALSO: Merkel risks leading weak 'losers' coalition for Germany: analysts

POLITICS

German president decries ‘violence’ in politics after attacks

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Thursday he was worried by the growing trend of violence towards politicians after a series of attacks on lawmakers at work or on the campaign trail.

Published: 23 May 2024 14:29 CEST
German president decries 'violence' in politics after attacks

“We must never get used to violence in the battle of political opinions,” Steinmeier said at an event to mark the 75th anniversary of the German constitution.

The basic law, promulgated in 1949, was a response to Germany’s experience with political violence during World War II, Steinmeier said.

“No one knew better than the mothers and fathers of the constitution how violence undermines a democracy and tears down its foundations,” Steinmeier said.

READ ALSO: ‘Grundgesetz’ – what does Germany’s Basic Law really mean?

The threat of political violence had again reared its head in Germany, the president said.

“We have received news of physical attacks on elected officials and politically active people almost every day,” he said.

“I am deeply concerned about the coarsening of political life in our country.”

READ ALSO: How politically motivated crimes are rising in Germany 

Earlier this month, police arrested a man on suspicion of hitting a former mayor of Berlin in the head during a visit to a public library.

Franziska Giffey, who is now the Berlin state economy minister and a member of Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD), was treated in hospital for light injuries.

Giffey’s assault came just days after a European member of parliament, also from the SPD, had to be hospitalised after four people attacked him while he was out canvassing.

READ ALSO: Why are German politicians facing increasing attacks?

Senior members of the government have also been confronted by angry mobs in recent months, with Economy Minister Robert Habeck blocked from leaving a ferry by a group of protesters.

In his speech, Steinmeier also recalled the politically motivated murder of the conservative politician Walter Luebcke by neo-Nazis in 2019.

“His death is a reminder of how hate can turn into violence,” Steinmeier said.

This week also saw proceedings open against the alleged ringleaders of a group who are said to have planned to storm the German parliament and overthrow the government.

The group of so-called Reichsbuerger, who deny the legitimacy of the modern German republic, allegedly planned to take MPs hostage and had compiled “lists of enemies” to be eliminated, according to prosecutors.

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