Democrats embarked on a difficult courtship with an initially reluctant bride it looks like the new coalition will be a reset of the old once again germanys two biggest parties the conservative c. D. U. In the center left social democrats are set to form whats known as a grand coalition that is if the bride can be persuaded to go along for it remains to be seen whether the social Democratic Party base will approve the deal so is this at best a marriage of convenience lacking in vision or could this grand coalition outperform expectations. Government wanted how weak is our topic on quadriga and here our guests Charlotte Potts is a Political Correspondent here at the w and she also works for the german broadcaster. She says the new grand coalition lacks vision and so does. Alan posner is with us once again hes a commentator for the daily newspaper and he says if merkels grand Coalition Holds shell be the strongest politician in the west however the s. P. D. Rank and file could put a spanner in the works and then america would be the weakest politician in the west and its great to have your young son on the show once again hes a dutch journalist and a political analyst who also worked for the Election Campaign of the social democrats in germany and in the netherlands he says this continuity of grand Coalition Politics might lead to stability and progress in europe but also a growing polarization within germany. Show that the Coalition Agreement which is essentially the blueprint for the government and its goals and plans has a visionary title this is it new impetus for europe new dynamism and cohesion for germany your Opening Statement seems to indicate that you dont think the content lives up to that billing that is very true i mean i think those are grand words that do want to paint a vision for the next four years but if you look at those one hundred seventy nine pages it is really lacking vision what were seeing here is basically easy fixes to underlying problems so were seeing a lot of presents for a lot of voter groups for example families with children of pension years were giving out a little bit of money here and theyre spending the big bucks but they this Coalition Agreement is not really addressing the underlying problems that germany will have to face and that will make germany fit for the future and im talking about a very broken Pension System for example very urgent need for digitalisation to bring reception to areas that a still. Without any cell phone reception and many other issues and it is not addressing that in the matter which two big parties in germany could address those there would you agree with that just taking digitalisation for example this Coalition Agreement says that its going to establish a right on the part of every german citizen no matter where they live to have high Speed Broadband by two thousand and twenty five there are number of clauses in the Coalition Agreement about education to provide Digital Skills there is quite a breakthrough in terms of the federal governments role in the Education System does that really all im out to nothing no it doesnt amount to nothing. I dont see how you can guarantee someone access to you know a legal right to access to Broadband Technology if the firms its responsible dont provide that i mean. I think governments and keep out of that were supposed to be a market economy why does the government decide stuff like that quite generally as far as digitalisation is concerned i dont think thats a government thing that we say capitalism provides that let capitalism provide it you know i mean i dont understand why phone users in germany if they cant get access dont go out of to change their provider and you know what i mean. But the whole coalition thing its not nothing i mean. I think old age pensioners for instance will be glad and future pensioners will be glad of the stuff this this governments providing them. But i agree. That its something tired and old about this. Third grand coalition weve had something tired old about the social Democratic Party which has been in government only four years outside since one thousand nine hundred eight and i think you know its more an atmospheric thing than you know than you could. Into this does not point in the hundred seventy nine pages and say thats wrong its most of a feeling of oh you know i wish there was something new in the air if it had been for you as a person has worked together with social democratic parties i want to put a question to you about this social market economy as its known here in germany both of the Party Leaders when they presented this agreement professed strong allegiance to the social market economy and if you look at the Coalition Agreement it does contain a number of provisions that go in the direction of strengthening security for workers and hansing. It may not go as far as charlotte says it should but at hanson pensions changing labor market and so on is the system of moderated capitalism that is in trying to in this social market economy is that really still appropriate for the times that we live in well we have to see about that if its appropriate to thing is that. You see that disco addition i think is a continuation of the sort of social market economy that we have already in the germany already know since the last ten twenty years and. The s. P. D. Has never been able to put more ideological ideology and it and especially this time the last time in two thousand and thirteen at least they have like minimum wage which was an anchor you know the debt they could show to voters like they really are changing something in germany like you said its a comma here its a comma there its a few percent here its a few percent there. Just social problems in germany even though it economy goes well are still pretty big the differences between income flex work are still relatively big i dont see the s. P. D. Having a coherent story about this so theyre its day they participate in the sort of conservative social market economy which is very seedy you found it in. For last twenty years. Without a toll. If anyone has given up. On their on their ideas surely its its its macro spotty short its the christian democrats its nothing conservative in that in that program plus the s. P. D. The social democrats get ministry of finance right they get the Foreign Ministry right they get the social ministry they get three key ministries the. Macas fox he doesnt get a single key ministry so when it comes to who actually gets the money to do what they want to do its its going to be the democrats who decide and not the christian democrats this is amazing and if they cant sell that point the concept and the thing charlotte quite a bit of money is involved this could be one of the most expensive coalitions ever if it does in fact keep all its promises forty five billion just for new projects the head of the social Democratic Party still head of the social Democratic Party because apparently its going to step down from that position martin childes said when he presented the agreement that it had the s. P. D. Stamp all over it would you agree with that well i think so i mean its not very detailed so we can cant really tell but i think it caters to the labor unions that caters to the workers there are some improvements immediate improvement for for workers and in terms of contracts that all made it in there also in terms of health care so very domestic issues that the s. P. D. Could put its stamp on and i i agree that the Ministry Posts the personalities that they are pushing forward now within the social democrats that is a huge deal and the tenth. Head herself yesterday it its been its been painful and there have been huge concessions made and losing the finance ministry for her party that was a big deal. Is all that enough to convince the s. P. D. Members do you think they do still have to vote on this Coalition Agreement and should they torpedo it we wont have a new government anytime soon i think its pretty members to have a knife in their throat they have like two options are they going to support discredit coalition. Maybe not all through enthusiastic but with good minister bows with a change in leadership at the same time or begun to bring germany into a political crisis so. Considering the fact that there are some social elements in this in this new agreement and at the same time this post and as ministries i dont think is. Devoted cannot ignore and they have to approve this discrimination agreement i dont see it feel any more. What if think. Many of the new members who joined seem to have done so expressly for the purpose of voting no i mean this is one of the big scandals of german politics that the Youth Organization of the social Democratic Party had exhibits a fourteen year old person shall we say of turkish origin who doesnt want to become a german consumer decide basically who gets to run the country can bring the government down its its incredible to my feeling that this should be allowed but the highest court in the land just decided yesterday that this is legal i think its a scandal disgraceful well yeah and i think at their youth the Youth Organization they do have a lot of. Feedback in terms of i mean they have a very strong leader at the moment with kevin communities are eddie came out and said this grand Coalition Agreement he was flabbergasted about it that they could at the social democrats could sell this as a success so i think the opposition within the social democrats what we see and then what well see in the next weeks will be big but we shouldnt forget the social democrats are a grand old party so to say in germany and they have a lot of old members that will probably vote for this country nation so i am quite hopeful that actually this deal with it will be pushed through by the membership it is of course not only social democrats who say that they are not at all sure they want to see another grand coalition the majority of germans said in a recent poll that they in fact are not enthused about the prospect. German commentators have been writing that if these proposals that have been made in this Coalition Agreement on education on pensions on digitalisation and much more had been made by the german equivalent of a manual macaw people would be talking about an exciting new impetus so is the problem not the policies but the personnel lets take a look. Conservative alliance won last septembers federal election but what the sharply reduced share of the vote her political fortunes were fading. And the social democrats turned in their worst performance of the polls since one nine hundred forty nine. Some newspapers called on the chancellor to stand up and take charge of germanys political future but americal didnt seem prepared to do that. I dont know how we could have done things differently and. First the chancellor tried to build a coalition with the greens and the free democrats. But that effort failed when the f. D. P. Walked out of the negotiations afterward merkel kept a low profile and refused to play the blame game. Then Martin Schultz rather reluctantly agreed to preliminary talks with the conservatives on forming a grand coalition now the two sides appear to have hammered out a Coalition Agreement will uncle americal have what it takes to lead that coalition. What do you think. The fact is the c. D. U. Has lost an important Ministry Finance maybe even two if you look at the fact that a new Super Interior Ministry will be going to the very Young Conservatives the sister party but not always friendly to angloamerican c. D. U. And as we mentioned there is a rather social democratic cast to a lot of this Coalition Agreement some does that leave the chancellor significantly weaker. Yes and. The this is a further point that the coalition is built in the sort of end chancellorship is saying that in two years theyre going to review their performance and see what they have to do this basically means that in two years you know the opposition within. The c. D. U. Has the chance to build up a new candidate to succeed and give her the position to retire gracefully probably saying well we did what we could and its great you know im going in there going to thank i give a flowers and of the center of and then i think its going to get really interesting see which way the c. D. U. Goes presumably is going to tack to the right but i would say. Shes holding on but not for long show that you said in your Opening Statement that she lacks vision but mightnt she develop it in this last term in office many leaders do suddenly begin to think about the history books in their last term would you expect thats possible here or she becomes a lame duck i mean see if she had the chance to really change bring about change for twelve years and forget shes been governing for twelve years and i think they see she had made a lot of improvements for germany and some reforms but never she was never a politician of grand vision and i dont see that coming in the next four years i think she is c. B. S. Weakened on a National Levels after really the last four months have been a disaster for her and very difficult in trying to form this Coalition Government. Globally in the end i think it wont matter i think she will still play a very strong role as chancellor as the german chancellor shell be very well regarded but nationally she lost Political Capital and it will be very hard for her in the next four years even though a successor we also have to say that its not inside shes been keeping them very on the down low and the two that i thought. Might be rising within the party did not get ministry post as far as we know so its going to be interesting to see who will rise up within the party in the next four years yep yes and one of the achilles heels of the chancellor perhaps the ecclesial was immigration her decision to open germanys doors in two thousand and fifteen strongly criticized including by those but very in conservative i just mentioned they will now take charge of the interior ministry does that mean that we are going to see a strict upper limit on immigration and essentially c. S. U. Interior Ministry Minister possibly flouting uncle embargo while flouting maybe not but i mean its already a pretty big thing i think that they already agreed on its a little bit diffuse they agreed on between one hundred eighty and two hundred thousand migrants a year which is already kind of a victory for sees you and i think but what you have seen with marcos she has from the moment on that you open the borders and she said like a chef and us. Then from that moment on she started to have a much more right wing chorus on me gratian much more strict of course she had a very tough integration policy and restricted migration policy and under the leadership of the this years you you can you can assume that there will be some more tough measures on integration and migration but in which direction that goes its still very vague and the agreements now and if merkel is significantly weaker what does that mean for europe. Well. I think this is what this coalition means europe is a is the following schultz is going to be inches from yesterdays going to be foreign minister hes the most euro file foreign minister. In government germany has ever had and maybe barring him would call himself he is going to aim for a sort of a mccall type europe a tight integration of the eurozone possibly a European Finance minister European Economic economics minister possibly even euro bonds and obviously america isnt going to stop him because because the finance votes from trouble in the finance ministry who struck the euro now the s. P. D. Has got that too so this is quite include i mean im i magine champagne bottles of popping all over the it is the palace and the ballet mall the seats of the European Commission in st fact one person who has been waiting a very long time for a German Government to get up and running is french president Emmanuel Mccall in a speech at the store bunn last september he outlined his vision of europes future including a common strategy on financial foreign and defense policy he said quote i dont have red lines i have only horizons americal and Martin Schultz agree on many european policy issues including the implementation of e. U. Reforms and strengthening the european economy against increasing International Competition so will the new grand coalition if it indeed comes to power be able to take bold new measures on european and Foreign Policy you know mr macleod actually time to that speech that we just saw excerpts from to coincide with the german election in the hope of influencing coalition to go she he has made it clear he is waiting for a response from berlin and what i heard from a number of conservative parliamentary members yesterday as i was in the bundestag was that they say they are now ready to get into the drivers seat next to my craw so is europe the main reason why people should be excited about this Coalition Agreement. Yeah maybe thats the only did so only topic you can be really excited about it i have the idea dont think bodo that germany is going to lead the process i think germany is going to let france a micro. You know paid his horizons and germany will follow and the left and right there will stop someone and they will. Then just pay the debt and the beta debt yes but yeah i think after the break student after the financial crisis we had to you rupa its definitely europes lex vision that we already know that since december more since twenty thirty years i think now is definitely to chance with someone like make sure its on the nose a foreign minister hes a driven politician hes a hes eloquent he can he can paint a picture about europe and together with michael i think this is something to be excited about not necessarily in mind country in the netherlands but in big parts of europe they will be very happy with this go on this show that quite fascinating actually that the title of the agreement that i read out in the beginning of the show mentions europe before germany yeah and actually the first five pages of the agreement on europe before they move on to germany i think thats absolutely fascinating its kind of a post nationalist statement and probably the first one of its kind in a Coalition Agreement so i have to say that is that is quite the amazing thing about this Coalition Agreement if you look closer though and playing devils advocate here but if you look closer then you realize that they propositions are quite in concrete so lets call for example he proposed a shared Asylum Agency he proposed a shared finance minister budget to set the sense budget the set of troops for the European Union all of this is not mentioned in the german Coalition Agreement and its very in concrete and thats not concord in concrete though is the fact that the s. P. D. Will now hold the finance ministry they will hold the foreign and the finance ministry that is a very significant departure from the last. Around coalition and there is certainly mention in the Coalition Agreement of greater investment in the European Union including to fight youth unemployment thats not negligible is it absolutely and i think the southern countries will be very happy about it greece and spain and others whove been really. Looking with much hatred towards germany and its austerity a stereotype policies and the former finance minister so that is quite exciting for them to see that germany will end its territory course and will invest more in the European Union but if it goes as far as my combs wishes go i doubt that you have your Opening Statement talked about the potential for another grand coalition to exacerbate pull the resilin you know in germany will this coalition if it does indeed come into being. Will it by working on europe help fight right wing populism in europe as a whole and what implications does that have for germany now i think in the dystopic as it was a big risk i think you can be so pro european like like like martin shoes and like the s. P. D. And they can also a miracle the shows are showed herself but this is exactly part of the problem a lot of people also in germany who vote for populist parties they they feel their identity threatened their identity is strongly german but they see a governor governments and transcending the sovereignity to the European Union so thats thats definitely a risk factor if you cannot get these people along your story in the European Union youre going to have a problem on the long term. But i think the internal cohesion in germany is and risk also because this coalition doesnt have any idea about how to Multicultural Society about integration of big groups of minorities there is not much in this Coalition Agreement and those are the answers many germans who vote for a right to have populist parties want to hear right now clearly the rise of right wing populism in germany was one of the driving factors for at least much of the language that was put into the Coalition Agreement alan posner and also quoted by Party Leaders as they presented the Coalition Agreement saying that they had listened to the concerns and needs of ordinary germans do you think a grand coalition can strike a real blow against the new right wing nationalist party here in germany you know for the reasons that europe said. The coalition is going in the opposite direction of what the the right wing of the alternative for germany. Which is now the Main Opposition Party by the way the biggest Opposition Party going in the opposite direction even though the new interior ministry will include a homeland section yet while a homeland section but look. The socalled right wing mr. From bavaria hes hes saying we can accept two hundred thousand migrants a year thats a million in five years thats not trivial thats ten times more than the mark on twenty times more than than tourism a or anyone else wants except so no and they dont want and the f. T. The right wing dont want more europe so this is going to lead to an even greater polarization what i see happening i have to say is that in the latest in four years time youre going to see the christian democrats post Michael Christian democrats. Tack to the right form a coalition with the f. T. And we will be back to two two to. The left versus right which would by the way be a great thing for the s. P. D. Because they dont have to do anything all they have to do is stay where they are on say were defending what we achieved in two thousand and seventeen eighteen very very briefly while were on british and show parts our title grand Coalition Government wanted this may not be the cause of the government germany wanted but could it give me alternatives b. The government surely needs and very very benefit or we need a stable government right now and a chancellor and that will be and you let me thank you thanks to all of you for being with us today and thanks to all of you out there for tuning in. I. Look. Up there are. A Natural History of laughter. Totally. With different languages we fight for Different Things thats fine but we all stick up for Freedom Freedom of speech and freedom of press. Giving freedom of Choice Global news that matters w. Made for minds. About the moments that might be said. Its all about the storms inside. 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