Coalition talks between Germany’s centre-left and conservative parties dragged on into Wednesday morning after Chancellor Angela Merkel negotiated through the night to break four months of paralysis in Berlin.
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Moreover, not everyone in the party supports the SPD union with the CDU / CSU – many ordinary Social Democrats believe that the leadership sacrifices the ideals of the party for sake of the posts in different ministries.
The deal needs approval by SPD’s membership to move forward.
The mass influx drove the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party which scored nearly 13 percent in September elections.
Mrs Merkel was pushed into striking a deal with the CSU and the SPD after attempts to form a government with two smaller parties failed in November.
Meanwhile the finance job could go to the popular mayor of northern port city Hamburg, pro-business centrist Olaf Scholz, often eyed as a potential SPD chancellor candidate.
Wolfgang Kubicki, the vice chairman of the Free Democratic Party, has emphasized that there will be no Grand Coalition (the coalition of Social-Democratic Union and the Christian-Parties Alliance) in Germany.
Social Democrats have been encouraged by their leader Martin Schulz to accept the agreement as it “achieved a lot for people”, thanking Merkel’s conservatives for making what he described as tough compromises. With SPD leader Martin Schulz, a former president of the European Parliament, reported to be headed for the foreign ministry, Germany could become more amenable to proposals for strengthening E.U. institutions and the euro – to the delight of French President Emmanuel Macron.
What have they agreed on?
German chancellor Angela Merkel of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) makes a statement before the coalition talks at the Social Democratic Party (SPD) headquarters in Berlin on February 4.
A day after a wage deal between employers and IG Metall, Germany’s biggest industrial union, Merkel’s breakthrough toward a new government signals that the country’s consensual system of politics and labor relations still has legs.
This could prove hard after swathes of young, disillusioned Germans joined the party in recent months in a bid to stop the SPD entering their third “grand coalition” with Merkel since 2005.
“Turkey is an important partner of Germany and EU’s neighbor, with which we have multifaceted relations”.
The giveaway of key ministries is a sign of how desperately Mrs Merkel needed to strike a deal to prevent another election or leave her at the helm of a minority government, said analysts.
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Many Social Democrats have blamed their poor showing on the party’s membership in the previous “grand coalition”. Refugee arrivals will be capped at an annual range of 180,000 to 220,000 and family-reunification immigration will be limited to 1,000 a month. And though the SPD secured a number of important positions in the next Cabinet during negotiations, such as the finance and foreign affairs ministries, there’s no guarantee that it will vote in favor of the agreement.
