Philipp Türmer, the head of the SPD’s youth organization, expressed deep skepticism regarding the governance capacity of specific segments within the CDU/CSU Union. Speaking to the “Tagesspiegel’s” Friday edition, Türmer claimed that for every accusation the CDU makes against the SPD, there are four instances where the Union itself has demonstrated an inability to govern.
He detailed several specific failings, pointing out that the Union reportedly wants to maintain affordable energy prices while simultaneously focusing its efforts on costly gas power plants. Furthermore, according to Türmer, while the goal is to ease the burden on working people, the Union appears unwilling to tax inheritance.
Türmer characterized the behavior of certain CDU members, stating that they are acting like the FDP when it was part of the “traffic light coalition”. He accused them of being unable to see necessary truths if those realities contradicted their established ideologies, suggesting that logic gives way to personal beliefs, thus compromising the Union’s ability to compromise and make decisions. He asserted that the issue is fundamentally not a crisis of the coalition itself, but rather a “crisis of the Union” where large parts of the party have strayed from their path of opposition toward government service.
Adding to the political tension, CDU parliamentarian Christian von Stetten, who chairs the parliamentary group for SMEs, recently stated during an event that he believed the Red-Black coalition could not survive for four years, claiming it would certainly not last even four years. He estimated that the remaining time for reforms was limited to three or four months, acknowledging that this timeline might also precipitate a breakdown among the three parties. Reports from “Bild” also indicate that various leading Union circles have begun discussing the possibility of an early end to the coalition. In fact, the SPD is reportedly experiencing “massive anger” within the Union over what they perceive as a reluctance towards necessary reform.