11 December 2013

Merkel's CDU approves German coalition deal

Partially translated from the German

As reported in the Wall Street Journal German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union formally gave the green light to its proposed coalition agreement with the Social Democrats, though anticipation remains high with the result of the referendum by members of the left-leaning party due at the end of the week. 

At a conference in Berlin, 165 CDU delegates voted in favour of the proposed tie-up coalition, with two abstentions. None voted against the deal, despite earlier misgivings expressed by the party's economic wing, representatives of the SMEs and a group of its young members, who argued the coalition agreement makes too many concessions to the SPD, writes the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Criticism by CDU members

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports further that the deputy chairman of the CDU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Michael Kretschmer, warned that the CDU should be careful not to approach the SPD any further. Compromises with the SPD should not become standard CDU policies. "The grand coalition is now indeed the only way to form a stable government, but it is not a coalition we desired", he said.

According to Bloomberg, Kurt Lauk, head of the CDU’s economic council, told Bild newspaper that his group "cannot support this coalition contract". He reiterated his critique on the podium during the party conference. The Spiegel writes that 50 younger CDU politicians have published a manifesto in which they demand a greater voice and an opening of the party towards the Greens. The younger CDU members are particularly clear in their criticism of the pension plans of the grand coalition. Still, as customary in the CDU, the coalition agreement was approved with this overwhelming majority. 

The only remaining hurdle before the next government can be formed is a binding vote by 470,000 members of the SPD. The CDU's Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, has already voted in favour of the coalition deal last month. 

SPD members have until Thursday to submit votes in a mail-in referendum, with results expected over the following days. Backing among SPD members is also assured, Thomas Oppermann, the party’s chief parliamentary whip, was quoted as saying in an interview with Die Welt newspaper. He cited the minimum wage commitment and a women’s quota on supervisory boards as decisive factors. The SPD grassroots vote, the first in the party’s post-World War II history, has already reached the minimum participation rate of 20 per cent to be valid. About 200,000 of the 475,000-strong membership had voted as of 6 December, Bild reported, citing an internal email from SPD General Secretary Andrea Nahles. 

If the SPD approves the deal, Angela Merkel is likely to be sworn in as Chancellor for the new legislative term on Tuesday next week.

Cabinet

So far, political observers expect that Sigmar Gabriel will take up a post in Chancellor Merkel's next cabinet, reports the Handelsblatt. As a political heavyweight, the SPD leader would also have to take on an important department. In this context, predecessor of Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU), the failed candidate for Chancellor, Peer Steinbrück, recommended recently that the SPD should claim the Finance Ministry again. But a different scenario would be favoured by SPD supporters, according to the result of a representative Forsa survey commissioned by Handelsblatt Online. In this scenario, Gabriel would not take up the post of federal minister, but could accept, in addition to his party leadership position, the chair of the SPD parliamentary fraction. Gabriel did not comment on these speculations, as he wants to wait until the results of the membership vote are announced. According to the poll, 48 per cent of SPD supporters would favour Wolfgang Schäuble to remain as Finance Minister and only 37 per cent would like to see Gabriel take up this position. 

As reported by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, a recent ARD Deutschlandtrend poll has shown that a majority of Germans would like to see Wolfgang Schäuble remain as Finance Minister (73 per cent). SPD General Secretary Andrea Nahles, Executive Secretary of the CSU of Bavaria, Alexander Dobrindt, and Chief of Staff of the German Chancellery, Ronald Profalla (CDU) proved to be unpopular with the population as possible Federal Ministers. 

According to the poll, the power relations of the parties have changed only slightly after the conclusion of the coalition negotiations. The CDU/CSU would now get 43 per cent of the votes, as found by the survey of the Institute Infra dimap. The SPD would lose a percentage point and get 25 per cent. The Greens could secure an unchanged 10 per cent and the Left remained at 9 per cent. The FDP has not regained any popular support and would be able to secure 3 per cent of the votes. The euro-critical Alternative for Germany (AfD) could expect 4 per cent and the latter two would not be represented in the Bundestag.

Summary by Jana Uehlecke