Social democrats punt a US of Europe
The leader of Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) urged his party on Thursday to push for the creation of a “United States of Europe” and keep open the option of helping Chancellor Angela Merkel to form a new coalition government.
Germany, Europe’s economic powerhouse, has been struggling to build a new government since Merkel’s conservative bloc and the SPD shed support in a September election in which the anti-immigrant AfD party surged into parliament.
Martin Schulz urged members of the centre-left SPD to be open to overtures to renew the coalition that has governed for the past four years, saying the SPD had a responsibility to revive social democracy.
A new “grand coalition” with the reluctant SPD is Merkel’s best hope of extending her 12 years in power after talks with two smaller parties failed. “The question isn’t grand coalition or no grand coalition,” he said, “nor minority government or fresh elections. No, it’s about how we exercise our responsibility, including to the next generation.”
The party would only recover if it could offer a clear vision of a Germany and a Europe that worked for their citizens, he said, calling for deeper European integration and a “United States of Europe” by 2025.
“Europe does not always work for its people, rather too often for the big companies,” Schulz said. Outside the congress hall, youth activists handed out red cards reading “No Grand Coalition”.
Schulz, who initially said his party should go into opposition after being punished for participating in the previous coalition under Merkel, apologised for the disastrous result. “It’s not just this election we lost, but the last four. We lost not just 1.7-million votes this time, but 10-million since 1998 — half our voters.”
Schulz attacked European moves to support big banks while doing little to counter high youth unemployment.
“When states can’t balance their budgets they face draconian sanctions from Brussels. If we can mobilise billions for bank rescues but have to fight for paltry sums to support jobs for young people, then this is definitely not my Europe.”
He was more critical of big firms than French President Emmanuel Macron, who wants deeper eurozone integration and probusiness reforms under a eurozone finance minister.
Schulz took aim at Apple, Facebook and Google, saying a strong Europe was needed to make them stick to the rules and protect the rights of workers.
“We don’t want an app-directed service society but we want digitalisation to lead to more individual freedom,” he said to applause, calling for steps to protect the digital economy’s self-employed from becoming “self-exploiters”.