German Social Democrats to Vote on Coalition Agreement
In the next two weeks, German Social Democrats have the opportunity to vote on the coalition agreement that was negotiated with the Union parties last week. Through a specially established online platform, the approximately 360,000 SPD members can vote on whether or not to accept the government program until April 29th. The result will be announced on April 30th. If at least 20 percent of the party members participate, the result will be binding for the party leadership.
Among the three coalition parties, the SPD is the only one to submit the negotiated agreement for a member vote. The CSU has already agreed to the agreement – the party commissions and CSU members of the Bundestag and Bavarian Landtag unanimously signaled their approval four days ago. The CDU will decide on the negotiation result at a small party meeting, the Bundesausschuss, on April 28th. There, 160 delegates will come together.
Approval likely
Although there are occasional strong concerns among SPD members about the agreement with the Union, the approval of the base is considered certain. Like in the past, the Jusos (the youth wing of the SPD) brought sharp criticism of the agreement and rejected it. The concessions made by the SPD to the Union in migration and social policy go too far for the young Social Democrats. Therefore, the Jusos demand new negotiations with the CDU/CSU.
In the ZDF Morning Magazine, the Minister-President of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Manuela Schwesig, showed understanding for the rejecting attitude of the Jusos: “I see that very rationally and also with respect” said the SPD politician. In a political party, there are different positions and that “concerns in the party should be reflected” is not bad. Nevertheless, Schwesig appealed to the approval, because they had “above all for the strengthening of the economy, the security of jobs and for more social justice” achieved more than they initially thought possible.
Tensions
As the Berliner Zeitung reports, SPD Chairwoman Saskia Esken has demanded that four of the seven SPD ministerial positions provided for in the coalition agreement be held by women. Esken justified her demand in an interview with the dpa: “Our goal must be to achieve parity in the entire cabinet and in politics as a whole.” And the party chairwoman explained further:
“We want to represent half the population and we want not only half the cake, but also half the bakery.”
Why then four ministerial positions for women in the cabinet should be, Esken justified mathematically: “If you can count, yes, then you come up with four.”
In several “dialogue events” members of the SPD party leadership and other prominent comrades will present the negotiation result to the party base across the country in the coming weeks. In order to clearly position themselves against the likely Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the acting Defense Minister Boris Pistorius tried to emphasize his opposition to CDU Chief Merz’s willingness to deliver “Taurus” cruise missiles to Ukraine (RT DE reported).