A special Party Conference this weekend and nobody but nobody is ruling out the possibility of it being rejected and that could in turn trigger more uncertainty and even fresh elections in europes largest economy and lead the nation so our question here on quadriga this week is waiting for germany new government in sight and to discuss that question im joined here in the studio by three excellent. Analysts beginning with Andrea Skloot editor in chief of hundred smart global and andreas says another grand coalition would alienate even ball voters support german democracy into coma he says well also with us is derek scally who writes for the irish times he believes that with this grand Coalition Agreement germany social democrats have signed their own death warrant strong stuff and a very warm welcome to japan and also a correspondent. For the french weekly magazine left point pascoe argues that the european project leads the grand coalition french president of money were micro in st so hes still waiting for an answer from me. Ok pascale about to begin with you id like to begin with the headline story here for a moment so almost have passed since germanys inconclusive election last september still no government in place here in berlin this is not what we expect from germany is it no it isnt and we heard during the campaign the germans won stability they won continued they dont want any experiments they want something very secure and very quickly secure and now we have these two and fro and we do a no and then the whole thing is starts again from from scratch so its very surprising and. You know if i hear my course said it shouldnt last too long so the europeans are waiting and i think the germans are either fed up or slightly a little bit what it when are they going to get the government what do you want what i mean you mentioned president micro what are what you know your view is what are ordinary french people saying about all this are they looking closely at whats going on in germany i think they dont understand anymore and they dont understand the s. P. Did any more what is happening here you know they are voting and its very difficult for me to explain that to my readers the s. P. Devoted a few a few weeks ago before christmas that you know they agreed to stop negotiation but these are pretty good station theyre not the real negotiation now so they get something to vote and if the data gets through to yes then thered be another vote at the end and you know we just dont understand then whats this whats this cause why can they not agree to do it or not do it but make a decision. Youre laughing because youre listening to now listen to what was going to say i was thinking you know weve been waiting so long at this stage gordos probably going to show up for a new german chancellor it is remarkable but if youre being optimistic you could say this is the normalization of german politics last year we had the dutch and we had the belgians you know waiting for a government does seems to be the new getting a government i think the real problem is that look we had a bit of a and earthquake here in germany on september twenty fourth there was both the large parties had their worst results since nine hundred forty nine and they just want to carry on and. Thats probably the only option really open magically they certainly dont want to go back to the people but they would have realised that this is not people are very insecure and theyve put together a sort of a after not wanting to Work Together notice that ok we will Work Together i mean thats already you know starting off on the wrong foot you actually didnt want to Work Together and now you are and they are saying this is a wonderful deal and there are really big things going on in the world and were starting to see the tremors in germany and i dont see either of these parties have actually responded to dot and what they present to the people was that in the preliminary Research Going into the talks considering whats going on in the world are certainly taking their sweet time and the political parlance for all this is the wording that is very widely used especially in the media is that there is a political crisis in germany people are willing to concede that much but there is not a crisis of state as it is put. So no no we supposed to understand its not supposed to reassure us well i mean its a tribute to the fathers of the german constitution that the german state can still function we have a government you dont have a Government Shutdown here like you would have in the u. S. But and the complacency here is quite staggering i mean its bad enough as a journalist trying to follow this on a day to day basis but the rest of europe is waiting for germany and the theyre sitting starting their own belly buttons picking out a bit. Fluff day by day this is really not a responsible way to be the largest power in europe what do you say andras about this i mean this is become a bit of a political platitude to say that germany isnt is a mature well rooted democracy these days that its a pretty unshakable as a democracy kind of be shaken by this crisis no i dont think i mean if it did the specter of why mars completely inappropriate nothing will shake this in fact. Germany because of lyme are introduced a constitution that gives the president of germany funk. In this case powers actual powers only in the scenario and he was quite stern in effect he forced his own party the social democrats back into these talks with Angela Merkel after the social democrats had on Election Night ruled it out so the nothing will shake democracy of germany and i think its its a lot of it is overblown as you can tell the country is very complacent that is the risk in the grand coalition would make it worse but the country is currently running fantastically well with low unemployment and surpluses and gifts to be doled out dealt out everywhere that shows you the ordinary german citizen isnt very concerned there is a not an economic crisis as you said but a political crisis underneath i happen to think that in the medium and long run this grand coalition which would be the fourth in postwar history and the third under angola merkel would actually make the political crises crisis worse in the long run ok well talk about that in just a moment but pascoe of the senses just to pick up on the the the basic Economic Data with impressive growth and record levels of employment the country is pretty much on autopilot and there is no problem. At the moment yes but no decisions can be made not on the european level new policy decisions for germany but its true that this is happening on the on the bedding of of economic wealth unemployment is low the starts ghassan them in the state is well off as the office the and the state is well off and this is a great luck i mean if it was happening in Economic Crises and uncertainties and fears then it would be quite dangerous we still have a little bit of time yeah not too much ok but this week is being talked about is a decision week there rick what what is being decided this week and what makes it so crucial all knots in your view all of us need to understand that the risk of the boy who cried wolf i mean you can call as a journalist keep saying breakthrough breakthrough its like the cure for cancer at this stage what we have is sort of democrats have the leaders of the party have come up with a preliminary plan theyre going to put up to over six hundred Party Delegates this weekend if those delegates say yes we like that they go in to form a Coalition Talks at the end of the process over four hundred thousand social democrat voters the rank and file sitting at home with a piece of paper can put an x. In the privacy of their own living room do we like this or do we not like this we want to punish the leaders of the party or dont we we want to collapse this maybe just to give america sent her off into the sunset we dont know whats going to happen at the end of this process so whats happening at the weekend is yet another in between step obviously it would be important to send a signal the delegates of the party stand behind the leadership and they want to go into these talks with a view to form a government but do the members ive talked to a lot of members who said this is the very last thing the social democrats need weve been in power for far too long weve been able to angloamerican far too long shes gotten everything out of us weve got nothing back and they say this preliminary Coalition Deal they said everything. We promise are a lot of the things we promised our voters the big ticket items they werent delivered so little anger mark was dangling off a cliff we were her last hope we reached out we gave her a hand we got nothing for us so why on earth should we go into government with this woman again weve weve already been sold down the river before the government is started thats what a lot of rank and file people are saying so this negotiations at the weekend it will all be very nice and lots of emotional speeches but whether or not the actual members want and they will have the final word whether they want us that remains to be seen ok well talk about this lady as you call her very very shortly for the time being all eyes are on the s. P. D. As derek has just been exploiting the social democrats germanys Oldest Political Party but the s. P. D. Is currently in disarray and its leader Martin Schultz is struggling to persuade the Party Faithful to follow him into a rerun of the grand coalition lets have a look. Martin shelter has been traveling around the country trying to convince people that the s. P. D. Must carry on its political responsibilities but not everyone agrees with him. Traitor. Schultz was caught off guard shame on you. Most important thing that we have achieved in these political negotiations is this we have now created an excellent opportunity to move europe in a new direction thats something i will campaign for. And i am certain that we will be able to turn this headwind into a tailwind. But younger s. P. D. Party members are turning away from shoals mostly because theyre opposed to a new grand coalition. We are convinced that this coalition would threaten the existence of the s. P. D. As a political party. To feed. The social democrats are divided as never before does this signal the end of the s. P. P. Big question theyre under as clue does it does it signal the end for the for the s. P. D. I mean after all this is the party of brunson how much mitt and they are apparently fighting for their life so. Whats going on is that social democrats are the center left post marxist Companies Across europe have been in a slow steady decline because none of them including the german social democrats have found compelling answers to the big question of our time of the modern age of the internet of things an Artificial Intelligence where its no longer the proletariat against the honchos or the bosses they havent had if you notice the main domestic policy they went to social democrats went on t. V. These negotiate negotiations were with was a decade old idea about reform of the left the reform of the the Health Insurance system and it was written off so they have not really produced any. Thing and people are losing interest can increasingly not told the difference between them and other center left parties like the greens and can increasingly not tell the difference between them and im going recalls christian democrats so for them it is bad i read in the latest poll today theyve dropped another two pork percent points to eighteen percent from their historically low results on september twenty fourth of twenty percent so theyre in very bad shape but to be honest its just their problem and i almost think they deserve it. Pasko do you see similarities between the problems facing germany social democrats and the demise of the of the socialists in fronts oh the phrase if you think that social in crowds are lefties and. Clinging to marxist theory is then you dont know the french ones i mean the french socialist and the french left represented the far left by. Very very antiquated and and i always thought was so we french see the social democrats as a much more its much more middle center and thats the problem is that if they dont go into the opposition. They will carry on losing their their their soul and losing their their you know they are ideas they have been swallowed by the christian democrats and its interesting because theyve come now to an Agreement Draft of a Coalition Contract and theres no major left wing idea in there i mean europe is good but i dont think that you know much insurance trying to do what he thinks that has done in france went into election with a very European Program but the people of france didnt vote massively in the second poll for mark because of europe they voted massively because they wanted to avoid mark independent performance you know so i dont think that they voted explicitly for my Course Programme in the especially not for Europe Venture very you were sceptic they voted to brocade something they voted against. Instead of for someone and i dont think that marked insurance is going to you know europe is not going to mobilize the crowds in germany. Last sunday had a contract of negotiation they had as a measure they wanted to introduce the minimum salary and that of course was a very social democrat idea this time theres not much and i agree with those of you that the members of the s. P. D. Will be very disappointed and say well what the Party Leadership is is inclined towards getting involved in another grand coalition with under the medicals conservatives you say derek that that would be signing their death warrant because they need new ideas i do not see theyve been empowered marketwise over every time they go into power market what happens is they commit the other and they have sometimes achieved some great things in the last government they achieved a minimum wage that would be considered in many countries were saying only now but later chief that they didnt werent able to sell it and the government the Party Leaders say we need to be in power to implement things for in the opposition we dont get anywhere the famous line the opposition is rubbish thats a line from the old s. P. D. Leader but in government they werent able to achieve anything they arent able to sell that and. I dont really see one big ideas of a headline features lots of nice things in their pension reform and and vestment in schools and digitalisation but these are things that any sensible government should want to do particularly considering the state of things here but they havent got one headline thing that they can say and we got this that america is going to hurt her but its going to help our voters and thats why were going to government i dont have that one so whos got an answer to the question what is the alternative to the grand coalition if i may have a scenario that theres a very Good Alternative its a minority government and the germans just havent had one because theyre or the founders of the constitution were afraid of their experience in the weimer republic when there was such instability that it led to the nazis but actually lots of countries including yours ireland. Everyone in scandinavia canada has had twelve depending how you count thirteen minority governments new zealand all around as the dutch and minority government is is not the the disaster that i go on merkel seems to think it is its not even necessarily in stable unstable it just means the Largest Party she would form a government and she would have to get majorities from an active and vibrant chamber of democracy the bundestag the parliament she would have on the merits of each case. That includes ninety two members of the far right population inside the city and janet is the best way to diffuse that populist rise thats what i was going say why did the why is the alternative for germany called alternative because of the word alternative less that im going to merkel coined there is no hearts or with these the grand coalitions when she presented everything as well the left is in the right as were all together and theres nothing else for you to worry about theres nothing even to debate and to vote on it is much healthier if we take the big issues and debate them with shifting majorities and she will be toppled by the way even if they have a grand coalition it could be toppled it wont last for years necessarily so i think they should consider that it would be better for democracy it would bring the population back it would make them less cynical i think it would be bad for the alternative for germany if if there was a minority government and proper debate including them where they have to actually stand up and people might listen to them which is the worst thing that could happen to them the populists. Well the other alternative new elections but thats also very dangerous or maybe a very stupid idea is why dangerous well because if you have a new election well maybe the danger of stupid if you have new elections lets say in two months or three months first of all its going to hostile and extremely expensive and difficult to organize but also the results might be the same as what we had on the twenty fourth of september maybe even worse for the speedy who havent been able to make a coalition and then you have to start from scratch and that would bring delays and i mean its not a solution either. And its not a solution for europe i mean a few remarks in shows as comes from the European Parliament he was very proud to get three pages of european speak at the start of this coalition preliminary Coalition Agreement when you look at it actually does not much i mean theyve sort of signaled that they will come they will meet michael halfway on this notion of reforming the euro zone investment and so on in the euro zone to sort of protect to insulate the euro zone against future shocks but if you actually look at the details or not actually mr schultz is very in favor of mr maher khans proposals mrs merkel has always been very skeptical she said yesterday im still quite skeptical and so she has been saved pulled back from the brink by the democrats and she has managed to somehow have the positions now that she had before the election so again where the d. S. P. To manage to support score a point or bring her over to their side on europe or the rest of europe has said oh this is a breakthrough for Europe Germany said well well consider microns proposal thats all theyve said so this is our big i mean to the people of europe wanted this grand plan that schultz is talking about a federal european state within eight years i dont know who else wants that around europe among the european the other countries the neighboring countries the member countries and european ordinary european voters do they know want to buy into this vision that martin short is. To go out there in terre haute no i dont think so i mean hes talking about the United States of europe i was mccomas talking about we need to make we need to integrate the euro zone i think its talk where we need to get momentum back into the European Union since brags that weve just been sitting around saying what is the future so i think his idea is if you Start Talking about moving the European Union forward on that again or the euro zone were back on track i dont know whether thats worrying people on the streets but to go out and sell this as a break triumph for social democracy is rather rather naive ok whats roll out of the u. S. Will be asking themselves the single American Play in all this im sure that one thing is for certain that it doesnt look good for the most powerful woman in the world as she is often cold if she cant cobble together a coalition government. And the americans forced termas off to a rocky start. In last septembers election support for the christian democrats fell sharply compared to twenty thirteen. Then Coalition Talks with the free democrats and the greens collapsed. That was followed by talks with the social democrats the chancellor has vowed to carry on. Here i think this document represents an appropriate level of give and take and a wide range of topics that are important to our society and its going to take plenty of work to convert all this into actual policy its. Of course the chancellor will not have the final say on that her political fate is now in the hands of the social democrats but even if the two sides agree to form a coalition will angloamerican will have forty takes to lead this new compromise government. Was whats your assessment of where im going to medical finds itself at this point in time how battered and bashed is she by events here in germany where it makes its make clear. And. It can capsize very very quickly i mean remember before the election especially in france im going to america was seen this you know this thrown in the middle of all these tempest and she was sally then she was wonderful the french had a real love for im going to america. Because she was she was the shes shes the contrary to what our politicians are and hold the hopes well settlement in america everybody was sure she would be the next strong chancellor and four months later. You know shes very five. Very much criticised also her past politics are criticized theres no nobody she has blocked the way for any succession theres nobody really obvious who could. Take on the if she had to stop governing so. Its very interesting and i dont see how she can even if theres a grand coalition with some kind of correlation being formed how she can get out of it and become again the most forceful the most powerful woman in the world would you say i did cite the influential weekly newspaper in the in this mornings edition said they had a one page photo of Angela Merkel above it is she already consigned to history or we could say damaged goods or a lame duck she is but the thing is she is so skillful as a politician that she could prolong this lame duck period possibly for years but i think shes also wise enough to realize that people that after almost thirteen years its time to allow some some potential errors accessors to rise in our party and i think no matter what happens in a coalition in a minority government she will make way for somebody in this legislative term of four years so i think weve got maybe two years of her showing to back at the start of her career a famous line i dont want to be. She was asked why do politicians always miss the moment to leave and she said well it wont happen to me i dont want to become a half dead rock and i knew one who saw her after twenty four hours of all night discussions i mean the woman is quite shes a happy and wrecked but she looked like a half dead rock theres no makeup in the world i can cover that up and we need to separate of course between what during the super uncovering her props are getting a little bit bored by her i want a new face and a new story we need to separate that from what i seventy people want but i covered the german election and the fury towards her by a small group but a growing group with this notion that i know america is a shes a shes a shes not a strategist hes a tactician and the tactics is what how do i get past the next obstacle she got there she got past Martin Schultz with this Coalition Agreement the question is whether voters feel that way and whether social democrats rank and file feel that way i have my doubts you know its interesting for of the for of us i should perhaps just mention one recent survey gave uncle a medical sixty five percent backing as a good chance of a seventy percent of germans associate with stability thats very important for germans of course the two thirds say best days have gone. Were getting close to the end of the show our question at the beginning of the show was waiting for germany to a new government in sight if you give me each of you a quick you know where to go when the time break and thats give us a quick assessment of where were going to go next year in terms of. Hope and think the grand coalition will fail and we will be surprised to discover that a minority Government Works unbelievably well even in germany. Continues to push minority government thank you the whole three of you for being here today. Weve been talking about what happens next to germany no government so far thanks very much for joining us if youve enjoyed the show as much as i have come back next week but i just. The be. The be. Sabbat. The be. The be. The be. The be. The be the be the be. The best. The beach happens every metro area sold out for houses mr charles blow everyone knows it county. But no one knows how to stop it limited concert kasha and the chronic distraction. The mix. Of the d. W. P. The beat the germans the band supplies the effects. License culture in germany. Us american keep mussa takes a look at germany it is increasing use of their traditions every day lives and language in there come out of. So im ok im good at. The bigger fish guy im going to g. W. Dot com make the germans. Sustainable protection for the earth ideas designed to preserve our ecosystems bassist around the whole. Global ideas takes the next step protection for our planets biological diversity trailblazing projects. Such as d w dot com slash global ideals. That people of the world over information they provide the opinions they want to express g. W. On facebook and twitter and up to date and in touch follow us. Good. Dropping bombs on civilians during the launch of the situation escalates. Theres no longer an interim force scruples going to with ruthless calculation of military leaders were killed the extent of the mischief of control of the airspace as it does an efficient technological to preserve the conflagration missouri destruction. Aerial bombing from get me come to hiroshima starting february third on g. W. Bush. Eh eh. This is news coming to you live from both ends dont you find his uncle edition militia across the border into syria with tanks and troops out of the ready the countrys defense minister says an attack on the enclave has begun we get an update from our correspondent in istanbul and also coming up. Socially democratic delegates to vote on whether to join chancellor Angela Merkel is going to stick with the new government for going to the opposition. On the one storm in