Germany Will Once Again Have a Functioning Government, Finally

Merkel strikes power deal with Social Democrats

for German coalition

By Susan McFarland 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Social Democrat Party leader Martin Schulz reached an agreement Wednesday for a new coalition contract. File Photo by Herby Sachs Wdr/ EPA-EFE

UPI -- After weeks of talks, German leader Angela Merkel reached an agreement Wednesday with the Social Democrat Party -- which would structure the Berlin government and keeps the chancellor in office for four more years.

If approved, the agreement would give control of the foreign ministry, finance ministry, and the labor and social ministry to the party, which is led by former European Parliament president Martin Schulz.

Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, under the agreement, would gain the economy ministry while giving up the interior and finance spots.

Bavaria's Christian Social Union, which is tougher on immigration than Merkel, would lead the interior ministry.

The deal needs approval by SPD's membership to move forward.

Four years ago, the majority of the party's rank and file were on board with joining Merkel's government. The group's mood eventually changed, though, and is now more divisive -- with many members saying the Social Democrats would be better at rebuilding in opposition than joining Merkel again.

If the deal is not approved by the 460,000-plus SPD members, Merkel would need to either pursue a minority government dependent on opposition votes to pass legislation -- or to return to the ballot for an election.

If approved, the deal could add four more years of power for Merkel, who has already served for more than 12 years as Germany's leader.

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Bundestag, Berlin © Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters

German parties have agreed upon a 28-page blueprint, forming a possible basis for breaking the stalemate in coalition talks, according to German lawmakers.

Speaking to reporters following 25-hour-long talks, the leaders of the three parties praised the “excellent” results, but stressed that on many points – notably migration and taxes – there is still much work to be done. The party delegates are now to discuss the draft with members to pave the way for formal coalition talks.

The leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Martin Schulz, who previously shunned the notion of a coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel, has come around to forming a government with her bloc.

“We Social Democrats, in our [leadership] committee, decided unanimously to recommend... to the party congress giving the party leadership a mandate to pursue coalition negotiations to form a government,” Schulz said on Friday.

Merkel is optimistic about the possibility of forming a coalition with the Social Democrats. The chancellor said that the newly-formed government would be a “new awakening” for Europe, vowing also to come to an agreement with France over the future of the EU.

Moving even further to the left could hardly be called a 'new awakening'. Left-leaning governments in the EU are seriously bringing cultural suicide home with reckless and idiotic Islamization. Merkel thinks she can control Islam in Germany, but she will find out too late that it is absurd.

Merkel’s conservative bloc ally, Horst Seehofer, said that if Schulz's party supports the blueprint, a formal coalition agreement may be reached before Easter.

A member of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) as well as another lawmaker from the CDU’s Bavarian sister-party CSU, Dorothee Bar, tweeted the photo of the document’s cover on Friday.

“Many, many hours of painstaking work and alignment are contained in these 28 pages,”member of the Christian Democratic Union or CDU Julia Klockner said.

The draft suggests keeping the number of refugees coming to Germany within the range of 180,000-220,000 per year, according to German media. The document reportedly covered the refugees’ family reunification process, suspending it till a new law is adopted and aiming to finally cap it at 1,000 people per month. The heads of the coalition parties also ruled out the tax increases earlier demanded by the SDP.

Considered a potential breakthrough on a new grand coalition following months of political uncertainty, the document could nevertheless be changed before the start of the formal talks.

Merkel’s conservative bloc, including the CDU and the CSU, embarked on negotiations over the potential forming of a coalition with the Social Democratic Party (SPD) led by Martin Schulz on Saturday. Should the outcome be fruitful, it may pave the way to forming a grand coalition of the two biggest parties.The parties clashed over a number of crucial issues, including refugee policies, the future of the European Union and budgeting.