Anger brewing in German SPD against Merkel power pact
BERLIN: To many German Social Democrats it sounds like a monster that will destroy their party if not democracy itself: the GroKo.
The term is shorthand for ‘grand coalition’, the mega-alliance of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives and their own SPD labour party that has ruled Europe’s top economy for the past four years.
‘Never. Again. GroKo,’ read a pinon button handed out by the party’s youth wing at a fractious party congress in Berlin last week that was dominated by painful soulsearching over its worst election result in post-war history.
The blunt message was illustrated with a picture of two hands forming a diamond shape, Merkel’s standard gesture in front of cameras, which has come to symbolise the veteran chancellor dubbed ‘Mutti’ (mummy).
“We don’t want a grand coalition,” said one member, Michelle Rauschholb, 25, who fears the SDP will be forced to ‘betray its ideals’ if it has another stint as Merkel’s junior partner.
Going into talks with Merkel today, SPD chief Martin Schulz is deeply sceptical about another GroKo power pact, and aware much of his party base is openly hostile to another coalition.
But after months of post-election deadlock, Schulz has agreed to meet Merkel to sound out plans to give the unhappy partnership another lease of life, even though many Social Democrats fear it spells a mortal threat to their 150-year-old party. — AFP
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