Germany’s coalition deal safeguards the Merkel/Macron vision of Europe

Angela Merkel’s new coalition government is testament to her skill as the great survivor, and to the unwisdom of underestimating her ability to outmanoeuvre opponents. Alliances of Germany’s two main parties are dubbed “elephant coalitions”. The one agreed this morning lumbers into life on very different terms from the last GroKo (grand coalition). “Two tired elephants, dancing for the last time,” was the verdict of one speaker at the recent special conference of the Social Democratic party (SPD), calling for an end to deals with “the Merkelator” and her Christian Democrats.

In the end, she prevailed by a decent margin. There was a two-thirds majority among SPD members for remaining in the coalition, while a third backed a youth-led campaign to shake up left-of-centre politics.
But the difficulty in delivering the coalition (five months since the election) marks a change that will resonate beyond Germany’s borders. It shows the renewed power of party grassroots, and the increasing influence of members over grandees.

For one thing, this deal placed Merkel’s fate squarely in the hands of SPD members (including 20,000 new sign-ups) – a move that has given voice to the left of the party. A two-thirds vote of support for GroKo is fine for Merkel – but much less so for the SPD, digesting poor election results and with a probable new leader, Andrea Nahles. She will need to apply pressure on the new government for a clearer leftish agenda – to prevent the one-third of disappointed SPD members from turning into a Corbyn-inspired movement for sweeping change.



Source: theguardian

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