Jack McNealy
// Progressive German parties must unite to take power //
Later this year, Angela Merkel will step down as Germany’s chancellor, ending three decades at the forefront of German politics. Despite Merkel’s steady, conservative leadership, German politics has swung to the left. To translate this momentum to concrete political power, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens, and the Free Democrats must create a majority, which requires a power sharing agreement between parties, in the Bundestag (German parliament) that will disempower right-wing factions. The potential liberal coalition can enact sweeping and targeted social reforms and establish a positive future for the German economy.
While Merkel, former leader of the Christian Democratic Union, has received credit for leading a stable and progressive Germany, the SPD has been the driving factor behind Germany’s progressivism. For example, the German minimum wage policy, set in 2015, was widely credited to the Merkel government but was actually introduced by the SPD. Since Germany has a large low-wage population, this law has improved the quality of life for German workers. The SPD was not content with just creating a minimum wage in 2015. In 2020, the party introduced a law that called for a series of wage increases in coming years. The creation of a minimum wage and subsequent hikes in pay speak to the SPD’s goals and achievements inside German politics as the opposition party. In the future, the SPD will prove fundamental in the advancement of social reforms that target quality of life, taxes, the environment, social justice, individual rights, and more.
To strategically enact its goals, the SPD must partner with the Greens to build a strong liberal coalition. The Greens, leftists, have risen to prominence in this last election cycle, taking 14.8% of the vote. This was the third largest share behind Germany’s two umbrella parties — the SPD and its conservative rival, the Christian Democratic Union. The Greens continue to rise due to their liberal policies and focus on the environment, an important issue following this summer’s floods, killing almost 200. The Greens consist of highly educated and wealthy urbanite liberals while the SPD represents a more working class voter base. The SPD has partnered with the Greens on social justice issues, but the Greens tend to lean leftward on issues like same-sex marriage. If the two parties do unite, there exists strong potential for the Greens to pull the SPD even further left, leveraging their newfound influence in German politics. The Greens’ growing base suggests that they have the confidence of the German people. The SPD must work with the Greens to remain a relevant political party.
A liberal coalition will likely replace the Merkel administration and will guide Germany to a more progressive future. The liberals have conservatives on the retreat, but if they want to win the struggle, they must coalesce to create a new, even more, progressive Germany.
