German Social Democrats wary as coalition talks enter crunch stage

German Social Democrats sounded downbeat about their coalition talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives on Wednesday, a day before both camps decide whether they want to move to formal negotiations on establishing a new government.

Merkel, weakened by an election setback in September, turned to the leftleaning Social Democrats (SPD) to seek a re-run of their so-called “grand coalition” after the collapse in November of talks on a three-way coalition untested at national level.

The chancellor, who has won widespread respect abroad in more than 12 years in power, needs the coalition talks to succeed in order to avoid her personal authority being further undermined and Germany’s international standing diminished.

The Social Democrats know this, and are playing hard ball.

“The mood is like the weather,” Ralf Stegner, one of the SPD’s deputy leaders, said as he gazed at the cloudy sky above Berlin ahead of Wednesday’s talks.

As Europe’s largest economy and pre-eminent power broker, Germany is crucial to the region’s fortunes. Berlin’s partners are eagerly awaiting a new German government to help drive forward Brexit talks, euro zone reform and EU diplomatic initiatives.

Senior officials from the SPD, Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), have been holding exploratory talks this week on whether to pursue formal coalition negotiations.

The talks are due to conclude on Thursday, before SPD leaders recommend to their members whether they should shift into official negotiations.

Participants have described the negotiations as “good,” but SPD leaders need to convince their party members as they are offering them a vote on January 21 on whether to proceed.

The leader of the Jusos youth branch of the SPD told broadcaster ARD that a deal between the coalition negotiators to drop plans to lower carbon dioxide emissions by 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 “was not a good start to these talks.”