Vice Chancellor Franz Müntefering's resignation has caught Germany's grand coalition by surprise: the SPD veteran was seen as a stabilizing influence and the cornerstone of Chancellor Merkel's coalition government. Her party, the CDU, is now wondering what comes next. The good old days: Chancellor Merkel is likely to miss Müntefering, who was an important ally in the cabinet on many issues. He was "Mr. Grand Coalition." No other member of the Social Democrats (SPD) was better placed to represent the party in the coalition government than Vice Chancellor and Labor Minister Franz Müntefering. While he had originally regarded Angela Merkel of the Christian Democrats (CDU) as inept, he then led the SPD into a grand coalition with her, ensuring that she became chancellor. While he often supported her in government, recently he had been going his own way again, particularly when it came to the issue of a minimum wage for German postal workers -- a move critics say would have killed potential competitors to Deutsche Post, which is being a forced to give up its monopoly position by the end of the year. He was one of the weathered old SPD veterans and became the chancellor's most loyal colleague. He was the credible connection between the SPD in government and the SPD political party.
Vice Chancellor Franz Müntefering's resignation has caught Germany's grand coalition by surprise: the SPD veteran was seen as a stabilizing influence and the cornerstone of Chancellor Merkel's coalition government. Her party, the CDU, is now wondering what comes next.
The good old days: Chancellor Merkel is likely to miss Müntefering, who was an important ally in the cabinet on many issues. He was "Mr. Grand Coalition." No other member of the Social Democrats (SPD) was better placed to represent the party in the coalition government than Vice Chancellor and Labor Minister Franz Müntefering.
While he had originally regarded Angela Merkel of the Christian Democrats (CDU) as inept, he then led the SPD into a grand coalition with her, ensuring that she became chancellor. While he often supported her in government, recently he had been going his own way again, particularly when it came to the issue of a minimum wage for German postal workers -- a move critics say would have killed potential competitors to Deutsche Post, which is being a forced to give up its monopoly position by the end of the year.
He was one of the weathered old SPD veterans and became the chancellor's most loyal colleague. He was the credible connection between the SPD in government and the SPD political party.
Franz Müntefering - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In April 2005, Müntefering criticized the market economy of Germany and proposed more state involvement to promote economic justice. In this speech, he described private equity firms as "locusts". He subsequently published a "locust list" of companies, which he circulated within the SPD [1]. This began a debate which has dominated the national news, being the subject of front-page articles and covered on the main television news broadcasts nearly every day. Müntefering's suggestions have been criticized by employers and many economists, but have met with popular support (up to 75% in some opinion polls).
People close to Mr Müntefering, however, said the minister had grown increasingly impatient with both his party and Ms Merkel's leadership. The resignation came one day after the coalition's top steering committee endorsed Mr Beck's proposal to increase unemployment benefits for older jobseekers, something Mr Müntefering had vehemently opposed. By contrast, Ms Merkel vetoed the vice-chancellor's plan to create a minimum wage in the postal sector. For Mr Bartels, the resignation was the logical conclusion of a "slow surrender of power" by a man who had become the last soldier in the lost battle to modernise a nostalgic party that he had joined more than 40 years ago. A trade unionist from the industrial heartlands of west Germany, Mr Müntefering had a close, almost emotional, identification with Germany's oldest party. For most of his career, he was seen as a traditionalist, once describing himself as "concrete-headed". As recently as two years ago, he was delighting left-leaning voters by comparing financial investors to "locusts" - a bronze statue of the insect graces his Berlin office. This may be why his conversion to pro-market reforms after Mr Schröder launched his unpopular Agenda 2010 overhaul of social security and the labour market, was initially seen as an act of loyalty more than one of personal conviction. Mr Müntefering was adamant he had undergone a change of mind. As parliamentary floor leader and despite initial misgivings, he forced the reforms through a divided and mostly hostile SPD parliamentary group in 2003. The following year, he took over from Mr Schröder as party chairman. This is not the first time Mr Müntefering has slammed the door at a sensitive time. After a row with the party's left wing over the appointment of a secretary general, he resigned as party chairman in late 2005, just as the SPD and CDU were in the midst of negotiating their coalition agreement. As the SPD turned to the left this autumn under Mr Beck's leadership and began rolling back Mr Schröder's reform legacy, Mr Müntefering grew increasingly isolated in his defence of Agenda 2010.
The resignation came one day after the coalition's top steering committee endorsed Mr Beck's proposal to increase unemployment benefits for older jobseekers, something Mr Müntefering had vehemently opposed. By contrast, Ms Merkel vetoed the vice-chancellor's plan to create a minimum wage in the postal sector.
For Mr Bartels, the resignation was the logical conclusion of a "slow surrender of power" by a man who had become the last soldier in the lost battle to modernise a nostalgic party that he had joined more than 40 years ago.
A trade unionist from the industrial heartlands of west Germany, Mr Müntefering had a close, almost emotional, identification with Germany's oldest party. For most of his career, he was seen as a traditionalist, once describing himself as "concrete-headed". As recently as two years ago, he was delighting left-leaning voters by comparing financial investors to "locusts" - a bronze statue of the insect graces his Berlin office.
This may be why his conversion to pro-market reforms after Mr Schröder launched his unpopular Agenda 2010 overhaul of social security and the labour market, was initially seen as an act of loyalty more than one of personal conviction.
Mr Müntefering was adamant he had undergone a change of mind. As parliamentary floor leader and despite initial misgivings, he forced the reforms through a divided and mostly hostile SPD parliamentary group in 2003. The following year, he took over from Mr Schröder as party chairman.
This is not the first time Mr Müntefering has slammed the door at a sensitive time. After a row with the party's left wing over the appointment of a secretary general, he resigned as party chairman in late 2005, just as the SPD and CDU were in the midst of negotiating their coalition agreement.
As the SPD turned to the left this autumn under Mr Beck's leadership and began rolling back Mr Schröder's reform legacy, Mr Müntefering grew increasingly isolated in his defence of Agenda 2010.
"reform" is explicitly opposed to "left", again. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
These are not measures of the right or the left. These are common-sense reforms that all other countries have carried out... countries that are successful...
