COLOGNE/BERLIN (AA) - Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) are gathering at an extraordinary mini-conference on Friday night to discuss possible talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU/CSU bloc on forming a coalition government.
Despite growing doubts at SPD’s base, the party leadership will seek the support of around 250 delegates on Friday night for the beginning of exploratory coalition talks with Christian Democrats, Germany's top-selling daily Bild’s online portal reported. These talks are expected to start as early as next week, according to bild.de, if the delegates give green light on Friday night.
There is growing skepticism among Social Democrats for entering into a coalition with Merkel’s CDU/CSU alliance. Many of them fear from a repeat of the bad “grand coalition” experience with the CDU/CSU from 2005 to 2009, which led to the SPD suffer a historical defeat in the 2009 general elections. Disagreements with Christian Democrats on a number of key policy issues also raise doubts.
First time in history: SPD members to decide
Several leading figures of the party have already called for a “mini-referendum” among the 470 thousand members of the SPD.
A recent poll by Forsa published on Friday showed that 65 percent of the SPD members do not want their party to team up with the CDU/CSU alliance.
Disagreements among the SPD leaders on whether to hold such a vote became public this week with conflicting statements from the key figures of the party. But SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel signaled that he is ready to take this risk.
According to the centre-left Sueddeutsche Zeitung, SPD leader Gabriel wants to hold a mini-referendum among the 470 thousand SPD members if and after a deal is reached in negotiations with Merkel’s CDU/CSU block. Such a vote would be the first in Germany’s recent history.
Gabriel wants this vote to take place before the party’s major conference set for November 14-16. SPD sources told press that the outcome of this vote would be binding for the party leaders.
Political observers expect long and difficult negotiations ahead of the formation of Germany’s next coalition government.
According to the constitution, the current cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel will continue to serve as a caretaker, up until the new coalition government is formed.
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