Germany’s new grand coalition has one vital job

From Bloomberg View:

More than four months after German voters punished their coalition government at the polls, the two main parties have agreed to try again. If the Social Democratic Party’s rank and file approve the proposed new pact with Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, which cannot yet be taken for granted, Germany will be ruled once more by a “grand coalition.”

The new cabinet would tilt the coalition in the SPD’s favour: The centre-left party gets not just one of the powerful finance and foreign-affairs ministries, but both. This could be a good thing. Germany could use a little less of the CDU’s stern fiscal conservatism and a little more of what the SPD is calling for — more public investment and bolder reform of the European Union.

The greatest threat, though, is that the coalition loses sight of the real prize — restoring faith in German centrism and leadership.

A coalition that squabbles and fails won’t just hurt the parties’ prospects in the polls next time. It will strengthen the insurgent far-right AfD, endanger Germany’s record of economic dynamism, and lessen the prospects for making the European Union work better for all its members.