Merkel’s coalition faces collapse after new SDP leader claims alliance alienates voters
GERMANY’S ruling coalition is facing collapse after the new leader of the junior partner to Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) described the parties’ long-standing arrangement as “c--p for democracy”.
The Leftist duo of Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter-borjans won a shock victory to take control of the centreleft Social Democrats (SPD) party on Saturday, defeating a centrist pair led by Olaf Scholz, the finance minister.
Ms Esken remained guarded on whether she intended to walk out on the coalition, something that would accelerate the end of Mrs Merkel’s career.
But she told broadcaster ARD she saw the coalition as damaging her party and German democracy, with both parties making compromises and alienating supporters. “We’ve seen both big parties lose a lot due to the coalition, so we both have an interest in governing in other alliances,” Ms Esken said.
The new leadership will set out its plans at the party conference this coming weekend, with delegates voting on key decisions, including whether to stay in the coalition until 2021.
Ms Esken suggested she would be willing to remain in the pact, but only if the CDU agreed to half a trillion euros in public spending on key infrastructure over the next decade. That would mean blowing up the centre-right party’s hallowed schwarze Null spending rules, which commit Berlin to maintaining a balanced budget.
With Germany’s economy stagnating, a growing chorus of economists and Left-wing politicians have called on the government to use low interest rates to increase investment in roads, rail infrastructure and schools.
The CDU’S economic council warned the party leadership yesterday not to “give in to the SPD’S utopian demands only for the sake of staying in power”.
If the SPD walk out, the most likely outcome would be the CDU going it alone as a minority government under Ms Merkel or new elections being called for next year. Such an outcome would mean the end of the veteran chancellor’s rule.