Atlantic Sentinel

Tag: Social Democrats (Germany)

  • Coalition Breakthrough in Germany, Explained

    Sigmar Gabriel Angela Merkel
    German party leaders Sigmar Gabriel and Angela Merkel walk to a news conference in Berlin, June 29, 2015 (Bundesregierung)

    Germany’s Christian Democrats and Social Democrats have agreed to form another “grand coalition” government.

    Here is everything you need to know about the deal. (more…)

  • Immigration, Digital Reforms Justify Grand Coalition in Germany

    Angela Merkel
    German chancellor Angela Merkel arrives in Kiev, Ukraine, February 5, 2015 (Bundesregierung/Steffen Kugler)

    German media report that the country’s Christian Democrats and Social Democrats are making progress in talks to form another coalition government.

    • There is reportedly a deal to attract more high-skilled migrants.
    • The parties are willing to spend €12 billion to expand fast Internet access across Germany by 2025.
    • They are also looking at tax incentives to promote digital research and investment.

    The plans bely fears that another “grand coalition” would muddle through for four more years and not make necessary reforms. (more…)

  • Schulz In No Rush, Makes Demands on Europe, Health Insurance

    German Social Democratic Party leader Martin Schulz has made clear he is in no rush to form another grand coalition with Angela Merkel’s conservatives, telling reporters in Berlin, “We are under no time pressure.”

    This is partly theater. Schulz ruled out another left-right pact after losing the election in September, but now it may be the only way to form a majority government. His base is skeptical, so he must take it slow.

    Schulz is also signaling to Merkel that she better give the Social Democrats enough concessions for them to justify four more years of coalition government. (more…)

  • Another Grand Coalition Dilemma for Germany’s Social Democrats

    German Social Democratic Party leader Martin Schulz, then president of the European Parliament, makes a speech in Brussels, June 19, 2013
    German Social Democratic Party leader Martin Schulz, then president of the European Parliament, makes a speech in Brussels, June 19, 2013 (European Parliament)

    Germany’s Social Democrats have opened the door to another left-right pact with Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, but many in the party are apprehensive.

    Another “grand coalition” may be the only way to form a majority government after Merkel’s talks with the liberal Free Democrats and Greens failed. That gives the Social Democrats leverage.

    But they are punished by voters every time they team up with the center-right. (more…)

  • Germany’s Social Democrats Should Have Picked Side

    Martin Schulz
    German Social Democratic Party leader Martin Schulz makes a speech in Bavaria, March 1 (Bayern SPD/Joerg Koch)

    Germany’s Social Democrats are going the way of the Dutch Labor Party.

    Both parties tried to appeal to their working- and middle-class constituents in elections this year and both lost precisely because of this indecision.

    Campaigning on liberal immigration laws, social justice and international engagement alienates blue-collar voters.

    Campaigning on border controls and deemphasizing identity politics turns away college graduates.

    Do both at the same time and you end up with with no supporters at all. (more…)

  • Social Democrats in Germany Make Same Mistake as Dutch

    Alexis Tsipras Martin Schulz
    Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras and European Parliament president Martin Schulz answer questions from reporters in Brussels, February 4, 2015 (European Parliament)

    Germany’s Social Democrats are making the same mistake as the Dutch Labor Party, I argue in the Netherlands’ NRC newspaper this week.

    Like Labor, which went down from 25 to 6 percent support in the most recent election, the Social Democrats are trying to appeal to both working- and middle-class supporters. It is that indecision that is turning both groups away from them.

    College-educated voters in the city see the benefits of open borders in Europe and free trade with the rest of the world. Low-skilled workers and small towns feel the downsides. Progressives obsess about gay rights and gender issues that animate few blue-collar voters. (more…)

  • Center-Right Voters Eager to Govern in Germany, Center-Left Unsure

    Center-right voters in Germany hope Angela Merkel’s next coalition government will unite her Christian Democrats and the liberal Free Democrats. But if the Greens are needed for a majority, they could live with that, the latest Deutschlandtrend poll shows.

    Green party voters are less interested in a three-party coalition but surprisingly supportive of a deal with the right: 68 percent would join a Merkel-led administration.

    The Christian Democrats are almost certain to remain the largest party, but it’s unclear from the polls if the Free Democrats will win enough seats to form a two-party government.

    The Social Democrats, the second largest party, aren’t desperate for another “grand coalition”. Half their voters would prefer to go into opposition rather than share power with Merkel for another four years. (more…)

  • Comparing German Party Platforms Reveals Two Divides

    David Cameron Angela Merkel
    British prime minister David Cameron and German chancellor Angela Merkel answer questions from reporters in Berlin, May 29, 2015 (10 Downing Street/Arron Hoare)

    Comparing the platforms of the six parties competing in the German election reveals two divides:

    1. The first is between the traditional left and right on spending and taxes. The Social Democrats, Greens and far-left Die Linke want higher taxes on the wealthy to fund public investment. The Christian Democrats, liberal Free Democrats and nativist Alternative argue for tax cuts.
    2. The second divide is between the four mainstream parties and the extremes on defense and foreign policy. The Christian Democrats, Social Democrats, Greens and Free Democrats all support closer European integration and NATO. The Alternative wants out of the euro. Die Linke would swap NATO for a security pact with Russia.

    Here is a closer look at where the parties stand on defense, Europe, immigration, spending and taxes. (more…)

  • Germany’s Social Democrats Need to Pick Side in Culture War

    Social democrats across Europe are caught in the middle of a culture war: they have middle-class voters, many of them university-educated, whose economic and social views range from liberal to progressive, as well as working-class voters, whose views range from the conservative to the nativist.

    Germany’s are trying to bridge this divide, but a report by the Financial Times from the heart of the Ruhr industrial area does not suggest they are succeeding.

    Guido Reil, a coalminer from Essen and former town councilor for the Social Democrats who switched to the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany, says his old party has “lost its connection to real people.”

    They don’t speak their language. They’re people who have never worked, they’re all careerists and professional politicians.

    Blue-collar voters — a shrinking demographic — only make up 17 percent of the Social Democrats’ electorate anymore. (more…)

  • Smart Policies, Wrong Vision from Germany’s Social Democrats

    Germany’s Social Democrats have unveiled a platform of sensible policies that should appeal to the broad middle of the country’s electorate.

    The trouble is the proposals lack a convincing theme and could easily be supported by Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats as well.

    Among the measures in the draft manifesto, which has yet to be approved by a party congress, are:

    • Higher taxes on the rich and lower rates for middle and low incomes;
    • Abolishing kindergarten charges and investing more in schools;
    • Making it easier for parents to take unpaid (!) family leave;
    • Preventing employers from imposing temporary contracts on workers; and
    • Allowing unemployed Germans the continue drawing benefits if they are in skills training.

    Much of this makes sense to help the squeezed middle and meet the challenges of the gig economy.

    But for some reason, the Social Democrats are selling this not as a contract with Middle Germany but as an agenda for “social justice”. Which is… not how you win over hard-working, small-town voters. (more…)

  • Schulz Not the Future of Social Democracy After All

    Martin Schulz
    German Social Democratic Party leader Martin Schulz makes a speech in Bavaria, March 1 (Bayern SPD/Joerg Koch)

    Germany’s Martin Schulz looks less and less like the savior of European social democracy.

    His party performed poorly in North Rhine-Westphalia on Sunday, the third state election this year in which the Social Democrats were bested by Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats.

    I argued here earlier in the week that North Rhine-Westphalia’s election was a crucial test for Schulz. It is the heartland of German social democracy: the biggest industrial state with four of Germany’s ten largest cities and a long history of trade unionism. The state has been governed by a coalition of Social Democrats and Greens since 2010 under a popular state prime minister, Hannelore Kraft.

    If Schulz couldn’t win here, then where can he? (more…)

  • Social Democrats Face Crucial Test in North Rhine-Westphalia

    After losing two state elections in as many months, Germany’s Social Democrats are desperate for a victory in North Rhine-Westphalia. A defeat there, in what is Germany’s industrial powerhouse and the heartland of social democracy, would be terrible for morale going into the federal elections in September.

    Martin Schulz, the party leader, needs a win to shore up his leadership. The Social Democrats have gone up in the polls since he took over in January, but this newfound popularity has yet to turn into concrete victories.

    Voters in Schleswig-Holstein this weekend switched from the left to the right. The ruling Social Democrats and Greens lost seats; the Christian Democrats and liberal Free Democrats gained. They can now form a state government.

    The eulogies of Angela Merkel’s seventeen-year chancellorship were already written when Schulz entered the stage, yet she keeps winning elections.

    In Saarland, her party expanded its plurality in March, winning almost an absolute majority in the state legislature. The Social Democrats underperformed. The two are likely to continue their grand coalition in the border province, but Schulz would have preferred the Social Democrats to be the senior partner for once. (more…)

  • Coalition Politics Could Turn Moderate Germans Away from Schulz

    Germany’s Social Democrats have shot up in the polls since they asked Martin Schulz, the former European Parliament chief, to lead them into September’s election. But they may yet lose some of their newfound popularity if voters start thinking through the consequences.

    The Social Democrats are neck and neck with Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats in the polls. Whereas the right enjoyed a comfortable 10- to 15-point lead through all of last year, it would now struggle to place first.

    Schulz has drawn support from all sides: moderate Christian Democrats, Greens and even anti-establishment voters who were planning to support the Alternative für Deutschland before he joined the contest.

    That first group is most likely to switch back once they realize the Social Democratic Party could govern without the right if it grows big enough. (more…)

  • Let’s Not Read Too Much into Schulzmania Yet

    Germany’s Social Democrats are gaining ground on the once unassailable conservative chancellor, Angela Merkel.

    Since the party nominated Martin Schulz for the chancellorship last month, it has gone up in the polls. Whereas the Social Democrats were stuck in the low 20s for much of 2016, they have climbed up to nearly 30 percent support in the last few weeks.

    One survey, released on Monday, even put the Social Democrats one point ahead of Merkel’s Christian Democrats. (more…)

  • European Social Democrats Warm to Coalitions with Far Left

    António Costa
    Prime Minister António Costa of Portugal attends a meeting with other European socialist leaders in Brussels, June 28 (PES)

    The formation of an all-left city government in Berlin that includes the once-communist Die Linke follows a pattern: center-left parties across Europe are increasingly willing to team up with their rivals on the far left.

    Germany’s Social Democrats shunned Die Linke for decades. The two parties disagree on EU and industrial policy, NATO membership, relations with Russia and welfare.

    The alliance in Berlin is only the second time in German history the two have shared power. (more…)