BERLIN/MUNICH: The leaders of Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) agreed on Monday to enter talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives on forming a government that could end political deadlock in Europe’s largest economy.
The centre-left SPD set the contours of its demands in coalition talks with the conservatives expected to start next year with proposals on issues like the economy and immigration likely to cause friction.
Merkel turned to the SPD after she failed to form a three-way alliance with the left-leaning Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats, plunging Germany into a political impasse and raising doubt about her future after 12 years in power.
On the highly divisive issue of immigration, one of the main reasons for the collapse of Merkel’s first effort, the SPD
said it opposed a conservative plan to extend a ban on the right to family reunions for some asylum seekers that expires in March.
“Family reunions and the cohabitation of a family lead to good integration,” the SPD document said. ‘‘That’s why we are against the extension the suspension of family reunions.”
Merkel could also face complications emanating from her own conservative camp.
Her arch-conservative allies in Bavaria on Monday named a right-winger to be their candidate for the premiership in a regional election next year.
The move raises the risk of disputes in Merkel’s conservative bloc and weaken her hand as she negotiates with the SPD.
Markus Soeder will be the Christian Social Union (CSU) candidate for premier in a vote in the rich state of Bavaria next autumn where the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is set to enter the regional parliament for the first time.
Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and their sister party CSU bled support to the AfD in the general election on September 24 and the Bavaria-based CSU fears the far-right party will steal conservative voters angry with the chancellor’s decision in 2015 to open Germany’s door to more than a million asylum seekers.
The future of current Bavarian premier Horst Seehofer had been in question since the election.
After the election losses, Merkel reluctantly accepted a CSU demand to put a limit on the number of asylum seekers Germany will accept each year.
The SPD did not stake out a position on the conservatives’ upper limit on refugees in their document.
The SPD, which has governed in coalition under Merkel since 2013, suffered its worst election result in postwar history and is reluctant to join another “grand coalition”. — Reuters
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