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SPD

Germany’s SPD shifts back to leftist roots, straining ties with Merkel

Germany's Social Democrats called Monday for greater welfare spending in a shift back to their leftist roots, further straining ties with coalition partners, Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives.

Published: 11 February 2019 16:31 CET
Germany's SPD shifts back to leftist roots, straining ties with Merkel
Andrea Nahles presenting the SPD's new plan on Monday. Photo: DPAdMonday

The Social Democrats (SPD), Germany's traditional labour party, have responded to a series of election debacles with a sweeping policy review — including easing rules for unemployment benefits, boosting state pensions and raising the minimum wage.

News portal Spiegel Online considered the change of course a deliberate SPD attempt to provoke a breakup of the year-old pact with Merkel's CDU, an alliance also known as the “GroKo” – a German reference to grand coalition.

SEE ALSO: German Social Democrats elect Andrea Nahles as first female leader

“The SPD leadership has launched Operation Exit,” a Spiegel commentary said of the SPD plans to break with the more centrist policies introduced by its ex-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

SPD chief Andrea Nahles, presenting the change of course Monday, denied any plans to implode the left-right government, saying this had been “a non-issue” in the party's deliberations.

Merkel's centre right Christian Democrats (CDU) and pro-business groups quickly rejected the ideas, arguing that they breached the joint policy programme of the coalition government and would cost billions of euros.

SPD deputy leader Ralf Stegner fired back in a tweet that the SPD's ideas were “scaring the class adversary”.

Break with past

The SPD's new approach signals a clear break with the sweeping social welfare reforms of Schröder, who ruled Germany from 1998 to 2005 before losing to Merkel.

SEE ALSO: How the Greens co-leader wants to ditch German's controversial benefits system Hartz IV

Schröder's so-called Hartz reforms are credited with revitalising the German economy but also criticised for the generating the social pain that led many SPD rank-and-file to defect.

With its new programme, the SPD is hoping to win back voters who drifted to the far-left Die Linke and the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) parties.

The next ballot-box test will be May's European Parliament elections, followed by three regional polls in ex-communist East Germany.

SEE ALSO: Meet the Halle politician working to change stereotypes about eastern Germany

'Self-liberation'

With the SPD now polling well below 20 percent, Nahles has faced pressure from within the SPD, including from retired Schroeder, 74, who recently criticized her for having made “amateur's mistakes”.

Former party chief and foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel is also working on a comeback after being sidelined by Nahles last year.

But Nahles has received support from many in the SPD for the new policy course.

Youth wing leader Kevin Kühnert, a fierce and outspoken critic of the GroKo, praised the new programme as “an important act of self-liberation” for the party.

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SPD

Germany edges a step closer to a government led by the Social Democrats

The Social Democrats' Olaf Scholz said that his party together with the Greens and the Free Democrats had a "mandate" to form a government in Germany, after the parties agreed to begin coalition talks.

Published: 6 October 2021 15:33 CEST
The SPD's chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz speaks to reporters in Berlin on Wednesday.
The SPD's chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz speaks to reporters in Berlin on Wednesday. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Michael Kappeler

“Voters have given us a mandate to build a government together,” Scholz told journalists after the Greens and the liberal FDP agreed to meet his party Thursday to begin discussions over a possible three-way coalition.

The move brings Scholz a step closer to the chancellery after 16 years of Merkel’s centre-right-led government.

The political upheaval in Germany was unleashed by last month’s general election which Scholz’s centre-left party won with 25.7 percent, followed by Merkel’s centre-right CDU-CSU bloc at 24.1 percent.

For either party to head the next German government it would need the support of the centre-left Greens and the pro-innovation and business Free Democrats (FDP), which came third and fourth.

Despite leading the conservatives to their worst-ever election result, beleaguered CDU leader Armin Laschet insisted he still has a shot at the top job.

Speaking to reporters, Laschet said the conservatives “respect the decision” by the two kingmaker parties to pursue a coalition with the SPD.

But the CDU-CSU is “still ready to hold talks,” he said.

READ ALSO: German coalition talks – Greens want to govern with Social Democrats and FDP

CSU leader Markus Söder however gave a more sobering assessment, saying the possibility of a CDU-CSU government had essentially been “rejected”.

The conservative bloc must now prepare itself for a stint in opposition after four Merkel-led coalitions, he said.

“This will change our country,” Söder said, adding: “The conservatives will enter a new era too.”

Recent surveys suggest most Germans want Scholz, who is also finance minister and vice chancellor, to become the next leader of Germany.

‘Building bridges’ 

Green co-leader Annalena Baerbock said that after preliminary discussions with the SPD and CDU-CSU, the Greens “believe it makes sense” to focus on a tie-up led by the Social Democrats.

Baerbock said Germany faced “great challenges” and needed “a new beginning”.

“This country can’t afford a lengthy stalemate,” she said.

READ ALSO: 10 German words you need to know to keep up with the coalition talks

Greens co-leaders Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck give a press conference on Wednesday after exploratory talks.
Greens co-leaders Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck give a press conference on Wednesday after exploratory talks. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Kay Nietfeld

The FDP said it had accepted the Greens’ proposal to move on to formal exploratory coalition talks with the SPD.

The first such three-way talks will start on Thursday, FDP leader Christian Lindner said.

The Greens and the FDP are not natural bedfellows, diverging on key issues including taxation, climate protection and public spending.

But both parties have said they also have common ground and want to “build bridges” in order to govern.

All sides are eager to avoid a repeat of the 2017 election aftermath, when the FDP dramatically walked out of coalition talks with the conservatives and the Greens and it took months for a new government to take shape.

 ‘Not a done deal’

A tie-up of the SPD, Greens and FDP, which would be a first in Germany, has been dubbed a “traffic light” constellation after the parties’ red, green and yellow colours.

READ ALSO:

Green co-leader Robert Habeck said that while the party shared some common ground with the conservatives, there are “significant differences” too.

Informal talks over the last few days revealed “more overlap” with the Social Democrats, he said, on issues like climate protection, social justice and European integration.

The clear preference for a Scholz-led government is likely to put further pressure on Laschet, whose political future hangs in the balance.

Gaffe-prone Laschet, once seen as a shoo-in for the chancellery, fell out of favour with voters after he was caught laughing during a tribute to victims of Germany’s deadly floods in July.

The FDP however threw Laschet a lifeline by stressing that the conservatives were not out of the running yet.

The FDP’s Lindner said a coalition with the CDU-CSU and the Greens – dubbed a “Jamaica” alliance because the parties’ colours match that country’s
flag – “remains a viable option for us”.

The FDP has served as the junior partner in a conservative-led government before, and they share a dislike for tax hikes, red tape and a relaxation of Germany’s strict debt rules.

Green co-leader Habeck also cautioned that “nothing is a done deal yet”.

Merkel herself is bowing out of politics, although she will stay on in a caretaker capacity throughout the coalition haggling.

By Michelle FITZPATRICK

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