Social Democrats OK talks on new Merkel govt

BERLIN — Germany’s center-left Social Democrats have agreed to open talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives on whether to renew their governing coalition or at least support a minority government.

Party leader Martin Schulz, Merkel’s defeated challenger in the Sept 24 election, secured a party congress’s agreement to a motion calling for talks on “whether and in what form” the party could support a new government.

Delegates voted down a call from the party’s youth wing to explicitly rule out a repeat of the “grand coalition” of Germany’s biggest parties in which the Social Democrats have been junior partners since 2013.

But the road to a new government is likely to be lengthy and a prolonged debate revealed little enthusiasm for a coalition.

Schulz had insisted after the Social Democrats’ disastrous election result in September that the party would go into opposition.

He said he still wouldn’t contemplate joining a new coalition after Merkel’s talks with two smaller parties collapsed last month. But President Frank-Walter Steinmeier made clear he doesn’t want a new election, and Schulz reversed course.

Schulz told Thursday’s congress that the leadership’s plan for talks, which he hopes to start next week, “takes no option off the table” and wouldn’t automatically lead to a coalition.

“We don’t have to govern at any price, but we also shouldn’t want not to govern at any price,” he said. “What is important is what we can implement.”

In his speech, Schulz also advocated aiming for a federal “United States of Europe” by 2025, and argued that countries that don’t sign up to a treaty establishing a federal setup should then automatically leave the European Union.

Merkel gave a skeptical response when asked about Schulz’ push for a federalized Europe. She said she would concentrate on securing greater cooperation on economic, security, defense and other issues by 2025.

The Social Democrats have been part of Germany’s government for 15 of the past 19 years, twice joining a “grand coalition” under Merkel, from 2005-09 and again from 2013 until now.

But the party suffered historically poor election results after both Merkel coalitions, with support slumping to a post-war low of 20.5 percent in September.