Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) expressed her satisfaction with the close yes vote at the SPD special party conference. The CDU considers it important that Germany has a stable government and can tackle future issues, said the CDU leader on Sunday evening, before her party’s top committees met in Berlin.

The party conference in Bonn became necessary after the SPD decided at its delegates’ meeting at the start of December in Berlin to first obtain a further vote from delegates before starting formal coalition talks. The SPD and the Union will now negotiate. The SPD party members will then vote on the result and the formation of a grand coalition in a referendum.

Prior to the decision, SPD leader Martin Schulz had called on his party to enter into negotiations with the CDU/CSU for the formation of a grand coalition. “We can improve many things in Germany,” said the SPD leader. “In my view, it would be negligent not to seize this chance.” Schulz defended the outcome of exploratory talks with the Union. They are a basis for the start of coalition negotiations. “We have achieved a lot,” said the SPD leader.

To counteract resentment in sections of the party, the SPD leadership had already announced it was ready to include new demands in the coalition negotiations, such as a greater restriction on fixed-term employment contracts, the harmonisation of fees for private and statutory health insurance treatments and a more generous rule for family reunions. However, these issues are not obligatory for the formation of a grand coalition, but serve only as a negotiating mandate.

SPD leader in NRW, Michael Groschek, sees the inclusion of additional demands as a “connecting bridge to the negotiations with the Union.” This has allowed the remaining third of undecided NRW delegates to be pulled in large part onto the side of the party’s executive committee. “I am relieved and proud of the debating culture in my party,” said Groschek. (Original text: Martin Kessler and Jan Drebes. Translation: kc.)