That is if the bride can be persuaded to go along. It remains to be seen whether the social Democratic Party base will approve the deal. Is this a marriage of convenience lacking in vision . Or could this grand coalition out perform expectations . Weak isnt wanted, how merkel . Charlotte potts is a correspondent. She says the new grand coalition lacks vision and so does Angela Merkel. Is with us once again, a commentator. He says if merkels grand coalition holds, she will be a strong is politician and the west. But the rankandfile could put something in the works and then she would be the weakest in the west. And its great to have job janssen as a guest. He says this continuation of grand coalition, politics might lead to stability and progress in europe, but in germany. Charlotte, the Coalition Agreement, essentially the blueprint for the government and its goals and plans, has a visionary title. New impetus for you to for europe, new vision for germany. Your statement seems to indicate you dont think the content lives up to the billing. Charlotte thats true. Those are grand words that do paint a vision for the next four years, but if you look at the 179 pages, it is really lacking vision. What we are seeing is easy fixes to underlying problems. We are seeing a lot of presents for voter groups. Families with children or pension ears, we are giving out money here and there and spending the big box. But the Coalition Agreement is not addressing the underlying problems germany will have to face and that will make germany fit for the future. Im talking about the very broken pension system, a very urgent need for digitalization to bring reception to areas that are still without any cell phone reception and many other issues and its not addressing that in the matter in which the two big parties could address this. Melinda alan, would you agree with that . Just taking it was asian, this Coalition Agreement says it will ablish and that highspeed broadband by 2025 there are a number of causes about education to provide digital skills. There is a breakthrough in terms of the federal governments role in does that all amount to nothing . Alan it doesnt amount to nothing. I dont see how you can guarantee someone access to a legal right Broadband Technology if the firm is responsible dont provide that. Actually, i think government should keep out of that. We are supposed to be a market economy. Why does the government decide stuff like that . As far as digitalization, i dont think thats a government thing at all. I think we say capitalism provides, let cap elizabeth provide it. That capitalism provide it. Dont change in their provider, whatever. The whole coalition thing, its not nothing. Is willold age pension ensionists will be glad. I agree there is something tired and old about this third grand coalition with have had. There is something tired and old about the social Democratic Party, which is been in government for years outside of 1998. Its more of an atmospheric thing then you could point to this and that point in the 179 pages and say, thats wrong its more of a feeling of, i wish there was something new in the air. A person whoyou as has worked together with social democratic parties, i want to put the question to you about the social market economy, as its known in germany. Both of the Party Leaders professed strong allegiance to the social market economy. If you look at the Coalition Agreement, it does contain a number of provisions of that go in the direction of strengthening security for workers and enhancing it may not go as far as charlotte says it should, but enhancing pensions and changing labor markets. Is the system of margaret moderated capitalism in the economy, is that really still appropriate for the times we live in . Job we have to see about that if its appropriate. The thing about it is, you see this coalition is a continuation of the social market economy that we that germany already knows since the last 1020 years. The spd has never been able to put more ideology and it, especially this time. The last time, they at least had minimum wage, which was an anchor they could show to voters. Its a few percent here and there. Germany,l problems in even though the economy goes well, are still pretty big. The difference is between income and its still relatively big. Ofy participate in a sort conservative social market economy, which is very received you found it. Alan i dont agree with that at all. Up on theirs given ideas, shirley its the christian democrats. Y its the christian democrats. Theres nothing conservative in that program. Plus, they get ministry finance. They get the foreign ministry. They get the social ministry. They get three key ministries. Merkels party doesnt get a single ministry. When it comes to who gets the money to do what they want to do, its going to be the social democrats who decide and not the christian democrats. This is amazing. Melinda charlotte, quite a bit of money is involved. This could be one of the most expensive coalitions ever i if t does keep all of its problems is promises. The head of the social Democratic Party still, apparently he will step down, martin shall, said when he presented the agreement, it had the stamps all over it. Would you agree . Charlotte i think so. It caters to the labor unions, it caters to the workers. There is something it improvement for workers in terms of contracts that all made it in there. Also in terms of health care. Very domestic issues that they could put their stamp on. I agree that the ministry personalities they are pushing forward is a huge deal and the thatellor said herself its been painful. Concessionsen huge made and losing the finance ministry for the party was a huge deal. Melinda is all that enough to convince the stb members . They s still have to vote on ths and it should they torpedo it, we wont have a new government anytime soon. Job i think they have a knife to the throat. Are they going to support this grand coalition . Maybe not enthusiastic, with a change in leadership. Or are they going to bring germany into a political crisis . So considering the fact some social elements in this new agreement, at the same time this heavy post, i dont think the voters cannot ignore. They have to approve this Coalition Agreement. I dont see it failing anymore. Melinda alan, what do you think . Many of these new members seem to have done so for the purpose of voting no. Alan this is one of the big scandals of german politics. The Youth Organization of the social Democratic Party has been having a Campaign Going on. Join the party and vote no. All you have to do is be 14 years old. You dont need german citizenship. A 14yearold person of turkish origin who doesnt want to become a german can still decide basically, who gets to run the country. Can bring a government down. To my feelinge 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. Charlotte i think the Youth Organization, they do have a lot of feedback in terms of they have a strong leader at the moment. He has already came out and said this grand Coalition Agreement, he was flabbergasted about it that the social democrats could sell this as a success. The opposition within the social democrats, what we will see in the next week will be big, but we shouldnt forget that social democrats are the grand old party and they have a lot of old members that will probably vote for this continuation. So i am quite hopeful that this deal will be pushed through by the membership. Melinda it is not only social democrats who say they are not sure they want to see another grand coalition. A majority of germans said in a recent whole, that they in fact poll, that they are not in fact in susan about the prospect. About the prospect. Have been made by the german the of and emmanuel macron, people would be talking about an exciting new impetus. Lets take a look. Angela merkels conservative alliance won last septembers election, but with a sharply reduced share of the votes. And of the social democrats turned in their worst performance at the polls since 1949. Some newspapers called on the chancellor to stand up and take charge of germans germanys poetical future. But merkel didnt seem prepared to do that. I dont know how we could have done things differently. Build a, she tried to coalition with the greens and the free democrats. But that effffort failed when ne ftp walked out of the negotiations. Afterward, she kept a a low profile and refused to play thee blame game. Schulz rather reluctantly agreed to preliminary talks with the conservatives of granting of a grand coalition. Now the two sides have appeared to hammer out an agreement. Well Angela Merkel have what it takes to lead that agreement . Melinda what do you think, alan, the fact is the cdu has lost an important ministry, finance. Maybe even two, if you think the ministry will be going to the conservatives, the sister party, not only friendly not always friendly to the cdu. Leave the chancellor significantly weaker . Alan yes. And at the further the point that the coalition has built in an end to her chancellorship. They say in two years, they are going to review their performance and see what they have to do. This basically means that in two years, the opposition within the cdu has a chance to build up a new candidate to succeed her and give her the position to retire gracefully, probably saying we did but we could and its great and now they are going to thank her and give her hours. And then i think its going to see which way the cdu goes. Holding on,shes but not for long. Melinda charlotte, you said she lacks vision. Mightnt she develop it in her last term in office . Begineaders do suddenly to think about the history books in their last term. Would you expect that . Or she becomes a lame duck. She had a chance to bring about change for 12 years. And i think she made a lot of improvements for germany and some reforms, but she was never a politician of grand division and i dont thinknk thats comig in the next four years. She is severely weakened on the National Level after the last four months have been a disaster for her and very difficult in trying to form a Coalition Government. Globally, in the end, i think it wont matter. She will play a strong role as the e german chancellor. She will be very well regarded, but nationally she has lost political capita and it will be hard for her in the next four years even though it a successor is not inside. She has been keeping them on the down low and the two that i thought might be rising within the party did not get Ministry Posts 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. One of the achilles heels of the chancellor, was immigration. Heard decision to open up germany stores in 2015, strongly criticized. They will now take charge of the interior ministry. Does that mean we are going to see a strict upper limit on immigration and essentially a csu interior minister possibly flouting Angela Merkel . Job flouting maybe not, but its already a pretty big thing. I think they already agreed on 0 migrants a280,00 year. Thats already a victory for the cdu. Borders. Pen the from that moment on, she had a much more rightwing chorus on immigration, much stricter chorus. Very tough immigration policy and restricted migration policy and under the leadership of the csu, you can assume there will be some tough measures on integration and migration. But which direction, its still very vague. Melinda if she is weaker, what does that mean for europe . Alan well, i think what this coalition represents is the following. Schulz will be foreign minister. Prime most foreign minister germany has ever had. He is going to aim for a macron type europe. Possibly a European Finance minister or economics minister, or possibly eurobonds. And merkel isnt going to stop thisuse the finance is quite incredible. I imagine champagne bottles are popping all over the palace at the seat of the european emission in brussels. Melinda one person who has been waiting a long time for a German Government to get up and running is emmanuel macron. L lasteech at the sorbonne september, he outlined his vision of europes future, including a common strategy on financial, foreign, and defense policy. He said i dont have redlines i have only horizons. They agree on many policy issues, including eu reforms and strengthening the european economyy against increasing national competitions. Will the grand coalition be able to take bold new measures on the european and Foreign Policy . Mr. Macron timed that speech to coincide with the german election in the hope o of influencing coalition negotiations. He has made it clear he is waiting for a response from berlin and what i heard from a number of conservative parliamentary members was that they say they are ready to get into the drivers seat next to macron. Is europe the main reason why people should be e excited about this Coalition Agreement . Job maybe thats the only topic they can be excited about. I dont think germany will leave the process. I think they will let france and macron paint his horizons and germany will follow and let them ride their stops. Alan repay the debt. Job and repay the debt, yes. And after brexit and the financial crisis a year ago, its definitely in europes an 2030at we we have years. Theres a chance with someone like schulz as foreign minister, hes a driven politician. Hes eloquent. He can p paint a picture of europe. This is something to be excited about. Maybe not in my country, the netherlands, but they will be very happy with this coalition. Melinda quite fascinating that the title of the agreement mentions europe before germany. Charlotte and the first five pages of the agreement are on europe before they move on to germany. Thats absolutely fascinating as kind of a postnational statement and heavily the first of its kind in a Coalition Agreement. I have to say that is quite an amazing thing about this agreement. If you look closer and play devils advocate, you realize that propositions are quite inconcrete. Emmanuel macron proposed a shared a silent agency. He proposed a shared finance minister, shared defense budget. All of this is not mentioned in the german Coalition Agreement. Its very inconcrete. Melinda the s p p will hold the finance ministry. That is a very significant departure from the last grand coalition and there is certainly mention in the Coalition Agreement of greater investment in the european union, including youth on a plummet. Thats not negligible, is it . Absolutely. I think greece and spain and others will be happy about it. They are looking at much hatred at germany at their policies and schaeuble, the finance minister. That is quite exciting to see that germany will end its cause and invest more in the european union. But if it goes as far as macron wishes it will go, i doubt that. Melinda your Opening Statement talked about the potential for another grand coalition to exacerbate polarization in germany. Will this coalition, if it does come into being, will it by working on europe, help fight rightwing populism in europe as a whole . And what implications does that have for germany . Job i think its a big risk. You can be proeuroropean like Martin Schulz and the stp and Angela Merkel, but this is part of the problem. A lot of the people in germany who vote for populist parties, they see their identity threatened. They see their government transcending sovereignty to the european union. So thats definitely a risk factor. If you cant get this people along in your story, you will have a problem in the long term. But i think the internal cohesion in germany is in risk. This coalition doesnt have any idea about multicultural society, integration of big groups of minorities. There is not much in this Coalition Agreement. Those are the answers many germans who book for populist parties want to hear right now. Melinda clearly, the rise of rightwing populism in germany was one of the driving factors for at least much of the language that was put into the Coalition Agreement. Leadersted by party that they had listened to the concerns and leads of ordinary germans. Do you think a greg coalition can strike an ordinary blow against the new nationalist party in germany . Alan no, for the reasons that job said. Its goining in the direction tt the rightwing kfd, which is now the main opposition party, going in the opposite direction. Melinda even though the interior of ministry will include a homeland section . Alan look, the socalled bavaria, he said we cant accept 200,000 migrants a year. Thats not trivial. Thats 10 times more than mr. Macron and 20 times more than theresa may or anyone else wants to accept. And they dont want the afd, rightwing more of europe. This will lead to greater polarization. What i see happening is that the latest in four years time, you are going to see the christian the postmerkel christian democrats, we will be back to left versus right. Which will, by the way, be a great thing because they dont have to do anything. They are just doing what they achieved in 2017, 2018. Melinda our title grand Coalition Government wanted. This might not be the government germany wanted, but could it be the government germany needs . Charlotte yes. We need a stable government and chancellor. Melinda thanks to all of you for being with us and for you for tuning in. Narrator join town Hall Los Angeles as we explore the timeliest issues facingng our reggion with top experts. Ask your questions to those who shape southern california. Were l. A. s largest and most eststablished publilic forum and always remain nonpartisan. In our 80year history, weve hosted over 5,000 speakers from politics to technology to entertainment. Visit ouour web sisite to see e our upcomiming speakers a and join asas a membr for exclusive didiscounts anand events. Your community, yourur issuess, your vvoice. Zavala hello. Im val zavala. Welcome to town Hall Los Angeles. Now and then, you encounter a person who has been through such hardships, you wonder how they are still here. Thats the case for susan burton. Shes not only still here, she is transforming the
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