Germany: SPD ready for ‘open-ended’ coalition talks

By Ayhan Simsek

BERLIN

The leaders of Germany’s Social Democrats on Monday gave the green light to entering talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats to form a conservative-led coalition government.

Speaking at a press conference in Berlin, Social Democratic Party (SPD) leader Martin Schulz said the party’s executive committee had decided to propose to the upcoming party conference this week to start “open-ended” talks with Merkel’s Christian Democratic bloc.

“There is no pre-commitment, there is no automatism,” Schulz said, underlining that all options would be on the table, including "a grand coalition,” backing a minority government, or other forms of cooperation.

The SPD’s three-day party conference will begin in Berlin on Thursday.

Merkel’s CDU/CSU alliance was the largest bloc after federal elections on Sept. 24, but it failed to secure an absolute majority in the parliament.

Her efforts to create a three-way government with the liberal FDP and Greens failed after weeks of post-election negotiations.

Merkel stressed last week that Germany needs a stable government and invited Social Democrats for preliminary talks to form a conservative-left coalition government.

Schulz previously opposed a "grand coalition" with the CDU/CSU, arguing that the election result meant voters had rejected the option of another grand coalition between the SPD and the CDU/CSU.

However, several leading Social Democrat politicians have supported a coalition or are backing a minority CDU/CSU government.

Both the SPD and CDU/CSU weakened in September's poll, and many Social Democrats blamed their poor showing on the party's membership in the previous coalition.

Although Merkel's bloc is still the biggest group in the parliament, it needs the support of either the SPD -- the second-largest group in the Bundestag -- or two smaller parties to form a government.