The cadre maneuvers of the German Social Democrats lead to the preservation of the current political course of Berlin

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The cadre maneuvers of the German Social Democrats lead to the preservation of the current political course of Berlin


On Sunday, the board of the Social Democratic Party of Germany approved its candidate for the chancellors of Germany in the upcoming fall elections. They were the former chairman of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz. Officially, as an opponent, Angela Merkel in the election, Schultz will be announced at the extraordinary congress of the SPD in mid-March. Nevertheless, it is already clear today: the cadre maneuvers of the Social Democrats, which surprised not only the Germans, were completed.



Junior partner wanted to be senior in the ruling coalition

In recent years, the German Social Democrats have lost their authority in the country and are now content with the modest position of the junior partner in the big ruling coalition. The elections to the Bundestag of the last three cycles led to this. True, in the early elections of the 2005 of the year, the SPD received an equal result with the CDU / CSU block. Then there was their big coalition led by Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Four years later, the Social Democrats failed completely. They scored just 23% of votes and entrenched as a junior partner of the ruling coalition. Since then, the SPD has risen slightly, but not enough to go back to the first roles. She got the best result in the 2014 year in the elections to the European Parliament - 27,3% of votes. However, this did not change the "supporting role" of the Social Democrats in German politics.

A new chance for them appeared in the autumn of 2015, when it became clear that Chancellor Merkel was defeated with her multiculturalism policy and presented Germany with an acute crisis with migrants. After that, Merkel fell into a long thought: to nominate her in the next elections or to retire. Last fall, the German media, long and persistently supporting the Bundeskanzlerin, drew bright prospects for Merkel, and she decided on a new nomination.

Since then, events flashed with extraordinary speed. In November, unexpectedly for many, Angela Merkel’s main rival for the post of Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier nominated the SPD for the post of President of Germany, which is vacating in February. In Berlin, it was said that the Social Democrats are now compelled to put their leader, Sigmar Gabriel, the current vice-chancellor and part-time minister of economics, against the elections against Merkel. The head of the Foreign Ministry’s meeting pushed for another prominent SPD leader, President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz.

This version did not last long. Sigmar Gabriel once again smoothly left the electoral struggle. How he did it in 2013. Then Gabriel gave Frank-Walter Steinmeier the right to fight Angela Merkel for the post of German chancellor. He himself remained at the head of the SPD. Members of the same party did not like such a reshuffle.

Apparently, Gabriel took that lesson into account. Last Wednesday, he resigned as chairman of the SPD and on Friday became the new foreign minister of Germany. At first, this appointment was considered a curtsey to Russia. Sigmar Gabriel is known for good connections in the Russian government. He was last in Moscow last September. I met with Vladimir Putin. As a result of this trip, the German Ministry of Economics supported the Nord Stream 2 project.

In Berlin, for a more restrained attitude to the sanctions against Moscow, Gabriel is sometimes called a pro-Russian politician. Indeed, last May, the leader of the German Social Democrats called for the gradual abolition of these sanctions. “We all know from our experience that prolonged isolation gives nothing,” Gabriel said then. “In the end, only dialogue will help.”

Experts recalled this statement last Friday. They talked about the fact that the new head of the German Foreign Ministry, in contrast to Frank-Walter Steinmeier, is not responsible for initiating a conflict in Ukraine. (Steinmeier, as we remember, participated in guarantees for a peaceful transfer of power, which he later refused.) Sigmar Gabriel will be more free to choose means and actions. And he made that choice.

The day after his appointment, Gabriel met in Paris with his French counterpart, Eiro. After these negotiations, the head of the German Foreign Ministry adjusted his rhetoric. “We in Germany and France are in clear positions with regard to sanctions,” said Gabriel at a joint press conference. - We want the implementation of the Minsk peace agreements. And this is the only condition for the lifting of sanctions. ” So the German politician has once again demonstrated its inconsistency.

Why politics will not change from changing figures

In contrast to Sigmar Gabriel, the new leader of the SPD and now the candidate for chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Martin Schulz, was not noticed in loyalty to Russia. Moreover, once speaking on a talk show on the first channel of German television (ARD), Schulz spoke very unfriendly about Russia. “By the way, I don’t particularly like them (Russians), they are generally hard to love.”

On another occasion, it was last autumn, in an interview with Deutsche Welle, Martin Schulz gave a very negative assessment of Russian politics. “The aggressive actions of Russia,” he said, “are a reflection of the public concept and world views, which have nothing in common with our European philosophy of mutual respect and openness.”

It should be noted that the German Social Democrats are usually disposed towards constructive cooperation with Russia. Schultz from colleagues is very different. His position is much closer to the policy of Merkel, and sometimes even tougher. This is explained by the fact that for many years Martin Schulz was behind the brackets of German politics. Since 1994, he has worked as a member of the European Parliament, and for the past five years has even headed it.

In this thread of European democracy, attitudes toward Russia are an order of magnitude more critical than those of national European politicians and officials. It was on the initiative of Martin Schulz that all contacts between European parliamentarians and deputies of the Russian State Duma were suspended. A ban has been imposed on entry to the European Parliament building of Russian diplomats from the Russian representative office to the EU. Finally, the extremely tough resolution of the European Parliament on countering Russian propaganda is associated with the name of Martin Schulz.

Now Martin Schulz has a new career perspective - to become the chancellor of Germany. At first, the local media estimated it very skeptical. After all, in order for Schulz to take the chair of the Chancellor, the SPD must win the autumn elections to the Bundestag. Deutsche Welle such an outcome seemed unreal due to the low rating of the Social Democrats. Schults was predicted to be Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in the next unified government of Merkel.

However, by the end of the week, the mood in the German media changed. A poll by ARD showed that Martin Schulz was the most popular among voters on par with the current German Chancellor, Angela Merkel. 41% of respondents are now ready to vote for him. The same number of respondents will give their votes to Angela Merkel.

Note that back in December, Schulz had the support of only 36% of voters and fell behind Merkel by 7 percent (her rating is now down by 2%). Now in the trust rating the candidate of the Social Democrats is already a percentage (65% against 64%) ahead of the Bundeskanzlerin. Although the Germans recognize Merkel more competent in politics than Schultz (78% versus 68%).

The rapid growth of popularity of Martin Schulz is explained by commentators for two simple reasons. First, in German society, tired of the power of Angela Merkel has already accumulated. This is influenced by the crisis with migrants and the problems in the economy that have arisen, including due to the miscalculations of the Merkel government. Secondly, upon careful examination, Schultz turned out to be very close for the Germans in their views and approaches to the policy of the current chancellor. The commonality with Merkel of the views on the future of the European Union, the global peace and the containment of Russia make Shchultsa understandable and predictable for the political elite of Germany and provide support to the local media.

Sometimes Martin Schulz positions himself even more abruptly than Chancellor Merkel. It happened, for example, in his assessment of the new US President Donald Trump. Schulz publicly pulled back an American who promised to revise sanctions against Russia. “The decision on the issue of sanctions against Russia is not made in a distant country, but in the EU capitals and in Brussels,” said Martin Schulz at the EU summit. “Our foreign policy is not being made in Washington.”

All this made the experts say that the candidates for chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (from the SPD and the CDU) are like members of the same party, from changing their figures the policy of the German authorities in the main areas will not change. Of course, all these layouts for the eight months remaining before the election will change more than once. In favor of Martin Schulz his Brussels past works. It is not responsible for the current state of Germany and for the problems that the country has encountered. Against Schulz - low rating of the SPD. And so far it is not very clear whether the Social Democrats will be able to rise to the Germans' attention to their candidate for chancellor.

Anyway, the start of the election campaign in Germany is given. For the junior partner of the big ruling coalition, the SPD, it turned out to be confusing. Personnel changes have not yet outlined the future policies of the Social Democrats, their possible cooperation with the "left" or "green." Namely, the course of the current elections and their result will depend on it ...
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  1. 0
    30 January 2017 16: 36
    Sorry, that’s not the topic, but how can I get notifications to find out who answered your comment.
  2. 0
    30 January 2017 16: 38
    And in the subject, it’s better then to let Merkel than this Fritz, Schulz
  3. 0
    30 January 2017 17: 05
    I don’t know who they will become in Germany, but ... Their revolution is inevitable.
  4. 0
    30 January 2017 17: 07
    "Our foreign policy is not made in Washington"
    1. 0
      30 January 2017 17: 07
      Of course, of course) Not in Washington, but in Langley.)
  5. 0
    30 January 2017 20: 03
    German Social Democracy has a strong weakness for Great Germany. In World War I, the Social Democrats supported the war. They supported the war in order to improve the lives of the most hardworking working people in the world - the Germans. The stories of all countries go in circles. German Social Democrats walk around the edge. To the native. Nazism in Ukraine provokes the development of Nazism in Germany and appeals to it. Ukraine is the notorious Lebensraum, without which Germany is by no means impossible. Thanks to Gorbi: he did let the genie out of the bottle.
  6. 0
    1 February 2017 23: 31
    It was not for nothing that Stalin called the supporters of the Social Democrats the Social Fascists: As soon as Hitler was appointed to the post of Reich Chancellor, the Social Democrats warmly welcomed this: "... Only thanks to us, you, Adolf Hitler, could become the Reich Chancellor!" In 1933, the SPD was banned as treasonous and did not deserve any other treatment than the Communist Party, which the Social Democrats have consistently fought against. After the war ended, the government from the Social Democrats granted pensions to the Nazis.
    PS And M.S. Gorbachev social democrat ... These are they, "inconsistent."

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