Economic council of Merkel鈥檚 CDU against renewal of coalition with SPD
The Economic Council of German Chancellor Angela Merkel鈥檚 conservative CDU says the party should give serious consideration to a minority government, in order to avoid a new grand coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD). In a statement, the economic council said a grand coalition would only be possible if the CDU agreed to the SPD鈥檚 demands on welfare policy, which it says are 鈥渇ar too costly鈥�. The council also argues that a renewal of the CDU-SPD coalition would weaken both parties, strengthening the far-right and far-left fringes of German politics. The CDU's Economic Council is no internal party organ but rather a business association positioning itself close to the CDU's economic policy principles.
On Thursday, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier met with the party leaders of the CDU, its Bavarian sister party the CSU, and the SPD, to sound out a possible coalition. According to the S眉ddeutsche Zeitung, Social Democratic Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said his party would not rush into a decision on exploratory talks with the conservatives. 鈥淣obody should expect this to happen quickly,鈥� Gabriel said.
Read the council鈥檚 statement in German and the article in German .
See 威力彩玩法鈥檚 Coalition Watch and the article on Government gridlock for background.