Germany: Why is the SPD youth wing campaigning against a grand coalition?
By
Peter Schwarz
30 January 2018
The campaign by the Jusos, the youth wing of Germany’s Social Democratic Party, against a new edition of the grand coalition with the Christian Democrats has provoked considerable nervousness in the SPD leadership, and in other political circles.
At the SPD party congress on January 21, the vote to begin coalition negotiations with the “Union” (Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, CDU and its Bavarian wing, the Christian Social Union, CSU) was surprisingly close, with 362 for and 279 against. Although the party leadership had unanimously solicited a yes vote, it could win only 56 percent of the delegates. Now it fears that the members could reject a coalition agreement, which has still to be negotiated.
At the party congress, Kevin Kühnert, SPD youth organization chair, was the main opponent of party leader Martin Schulz. Like Schulz, he too had previously visited the SPD state associations and campaigned for a rejection of coalition negotiations. Since then, the media has provided the 28-year-old with much publicity: he is extensively interviewed in the main news programmes, widely cited by newspapers and invited onto prominent talk shows.
The Jusos have continued their campaign after the congress. Under the hashtag #NoGroKo (No Grand Coalition), they advocate a rejection of the coalition agreement in the membership vote to which the party has committed itself. At the same time, under the slogan “join up, say no,” they are seeking to attract new SPD members who will vote against the GroKo.
According to a report by Focus magazine, 1,900 new members joined the SPD within just two days of the party congress. Now, the party leadership wants to set a…