Angela Merkel offered path to fourth term

Social Democrats divided over decision to join Merkel coalition, or opt for a minority govt

Germany’s biggest opposition party is debating whether to begin talks with Angela Merkel on a minority government or a coalition, offering a way to restore political leadership in Europe’s biggest economy.

It’s the first sign the Social Democratic Party may be ready to help the chancellor stay in power after her talks on forming a coalition with three other parties fell apart. As SPD leaders met into the night on Thursday, party head Martin Schulz faced calls by Social Democratic lawmakers and state leaders to drop his refusal to join a Merkel coalition. 

Schulz favors pledging SPD support for a minority government, an arrangement Merkel wants to avoid. Two months after an inconclusive election that brought a far-right party into parliament, the impasse has left Merkel stranded even though she won a mandate for a fourth term. 

With Germany’s political map in flux, her aversion to governing without a parliamentary majority and the SPD’s refusal to be her junior partner for a third time may both be negotiable. “The question on the table is which kind of contribution the SPD can make for the country,” Hubertus Heil, the party’s secretary general, told reporters in Berlin. “This will take some time.” 

Schulz, who led the SPD to its worst result since World War II in September, faces increasing pressure within the party to step aside, a move that might help clear the way for a grand coalition. 

Heil sought to quell the speculation, saying “personnel matters” aren’t on the agenda for now. Schulz is ready to hold talks with Merkel and is prepared to back her in a minority government, though he won’t offer another grand coalition, according to a person familiar with his thinking who asked not to be identified. That arrangement might involve an SPD pledge to support Merkel on legislation on a case-by-case basis without joining her administration. “Of course we want to help Germany and we haven’t ruled out anything,” SPD lawmaker Karl Lauterbach said in a ZDF television interview.