Merkel Clinches Deal After Months of Deadlock
BERLIN (Dispatches) -- Angela Merkel hailed a "new dawn for Europe” as she unveiled a coalition deal between her conservative bloc and the Social Democrats that should put Germany back at the forefront of efforts to reform the EU.
Speaking after marathon talks with SPD leader Martin Schulz, the chancellor said she was now confident that Germany would find "common solutions with France” on taking Europe forward.
Germany’s allies have been on tenterhooks ever since last September’s inconclusive Bundestag election plunged Europe’s largest economy into uncertainty and raised questions about the future of Merkel, one of the continent’s most experienced and respected political leaders.
The paralysis has undermined the chancellor’s authority both at home and abroad, held up critical business in Europe and weakened Germany’s international reputation. It has also thwarted French president Emmanuel Macron’s hopes of a speedy German response to the ambitious proposals he unveiled last September for reforming the EU.
But on Friday Schulz, a former president of the European Parliament who has called for the creation of a United States of Europe by 2025, said: "We are determined to deploy Germany’s full economic and political power to turn Europe once again into the great project that this community of nations is.”
The coalition, however, is by no means a done deal. Resistance to an alliance with the conservatives runs strong in the SPD’s rank and file, who will get to vote on any final coalition agreement. Formal negotiations on a grand coalition can only start once an SPD party conference in Bonn on January 21 has given the green light.
Skepticism remains strong among Social Democrats, who feel the party lost its identity in the previous grand coalition between 2013 and 2017. The SPD scored some significant successes, such as the introduction of a minimum wage, but many party members felt that Ms Merkel got all the credit for them.
In the aftermath of the election, the SPD had firmly ruled out reviving its alliance with Merkel, but was forced to reconsider after her attempts to form an unprecedented three-way coalition with the liberal Free Democrats and environmental Greens collapsed in November.
Speaking after marathon talks with SPD leader Martin Schulz, the chancellor said she was now confident that Germany would find "common solutions with France” on taking Europe forward.
Germany’s allies have been on tenterhooks ever since last September’s inconclusive Bundestag election plunged Europe’s largest economy into uncertainty and raised questions about the future of Merkel, one of the continent’s most experienced and respected political leaders.
The paralysis has undermined the chancellor’s authority both at home and abroad, held up critical business in Europe and weakened Germany’s international reputation. It has also thwarted French president Emmanuel Macron’s hopes of a speedy German response to the ambitious proposals he unveiled last September for reforming the EU.
But on Friday Schulz, a former president of the European Parliament who has called for the creation of a United States of Europe by 2025, said: "We are determined to deploy Germany’s full economic and political power to turn Europe once again into the great project that this community of nations is.”
The coalition, however, is by no means a done deal. Resistance to an alliance with the conservatives runs strong in the SPD’s rank and file, who will get to vote on any final coalition agreement. Formal negotiations on a grand coalition can only start once an SPD party conference in Bonn on January 21 has given the green light.
Skepticism remains strong among Social Democrats, who feel the party lost its identity in the previous grand coalition between 2013 and 2017. The SPD scored some significant successes, such as the introduction of a minimum wage, but many party members felt that Ms Merkel got all the credit for them.
In the aftermath of the election, the SPD had firmly ruled out reviving its alliance with Merkel, but was forced to reconsider after her attempts to form an unprecedented three-way coalition with the liberal Free Democrats and environmental Greens collapsed in November.