Crisis in Germany

international | eu | opinion/analysis Thursday June 02, 2005 18:27 by SP Member - SP/CWI

Despite the comments by German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder following the defeat of the EU constitution in France and Holland, the German political establishment is in crisis.

The potential now exists for the establishment of a new broad left formation.

Reports coming from Germany suggest that the German establishment may be scapegoating the EU and the Euro for their economic ills.

The BBC has reported that a political storm has broken out in Germany over reports that the government may be distancing itself from the European single currency.

Stern magazine said that Finance Minister Hans Eichel had been present at a meeting where the "collapse" of monetary union was discussed.

The government is planning to blame the euro for Germany's economic weakness, the magazine added.

The report was dismissed by both the ministry and Germany's central bank.

See link for details:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4599681.stm

Following the disasterous results for the SPD in regional elections the German government now faces a vote of confidence on July 1st that will likely lead to a General Election.

At the same time the WASG (Work and Social Justice- the Electoral Alternative), the new left party in Germany, stood in the North Rhine Westphalia elections for the first time and scored 2.2%, around 181,000 votes. Significantly, the WSAG scored 9% amongst the unemployed to become the third largest party amongst this part of the population.

Oskar Lafontaine, the former finance minister under the first term Schröder government, who resigned because he was in disagreement with the SPD’s neo-liberal policies, has finally sent back his SPD membership card and announced that he would be ready to stand on a ticket of an alliance which involves the WASG and the PDS.

According to the latest opinion polls, a left formation which involved Oskar Lafontaine would have the potential to win up to 18% of the vote, which underlines, once again, the desire for a genuine left force amongst a decisive section of the German working class.

Lafontaine’s announcement poses big opportunities but also dangers. Understandably, there is a wish to achieve maximum unity amongst the left and opponents of neo-liberalism, to get the left elected into the Bundestag (parliament) in September and to strike a decisive blow against the establishment.

The PDS is part of the ruling regional government coalition in Berlin, along with the SPD, and has made severe cuts in the public sector. The PDS is directly responsible for crèche closures, privatisation, and a 10% wage cut for public sector workers. Wherever they have taken on government responsibilities, the PDS carried out similar policies. As a result, former PDS members have joined WASG.

The PDS’s involvement in making cuts should be the key issue in the debate about forming a new WASG/PDS alliance.
Members of Socialist Alternative (SAV), the CWI in Germany, who are active within WASG, argue that one of the preconditions to entering formal co-operation with the PDS should be that party’s withdrawal from government coalitions with the SPD. The working class does not want left unity on paper but in practice.

For more analysis see link:
http://www.socialistworld.net/index.html