Merkel’s Party Plays Hardball With Coalition’s Future in Balance

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

(Bloomberg) -- Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats told the new leadership of the Social Democrats that they can quit the governing coalition, but there will be no renegotiation of the terms of their alliance.The SPD on Saturday picked coalition critics Norbert Walter-Borjans and Saskia Esken to take the party forward over Merkel’s SPD vice chancellor Olaf Scholz and the new leaders said they will demand policy changes from Merkel if they are to maintain their support. The terms of the new leadership will be set out at a three-day SPD conference starting Friday in Berlin.CDU leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said there’s no way her party will open up a debate on the coalition deal signed in March last year. “We’re not a therapy service for the parties in government,” she said in an interview Monday with ZDF television.“This new SPD leadership must decide whether they want to stay in this coalition or not,” Kramp-Karrenbauer added. “We made a pledge to the voters. We want to govern on the basis of what was agreed. We are focusing on that and not on the mental state of any coalition partner.”In comments after their victory was announced on Saturday, Walter-Borjans said the party has no intention of abruptly leaving the coalition. The SPD is more likely to put forward a set of demands, such as abandoning Merkel’s cherished balanced-budget stance and raising Germany’s minimum wage.Walter-Borjans also indicated that Scholz will stay on as finance minister.To contact the reporter on this story: Iain Rogers in Berlin at irogers11@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Ben SillsFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.