The senior-most union official in Germany is vocally supporting the idea of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) to renew their coalition agreement with the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU), led by Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Reiner Hoffmann, the chair of Germany's Trade Union Confederation, told Thursday's edition of the Tagesspiegel newspaper that the Social Democrats should take a fresh four-year term with Merkel's conservatives as an opportunity to implement worker-friendly policies and attempt to influence the ongoing push to reform the European Union, led by France's President Emmanuel Macron. He added that it would be a "big mistake" for Germany's second-largest party to not "take responsibility."
Talks will begin shortly into the New Year on a new government with the Social Democrats. The two parties have already served in a "grand coalition" arrangement for the past four years -- the closest equivalent in Canadian politics would be the federal Liberals and Conservatives agreeing to govern the country together. After a poor showing in last September's elections, the SPD vowed to return to the opposition benches, but the party has been reluctantly coaxed back to the negotiation table in recent weeks.
The change of heart comes a month after coalition talks collapsed between Merkel's bloc of conservative CDU and CSU parties, the Green Party and the centrist Free Democrats. That briefly plunged the country into political uncertainty; with the SPD agreeing to consider returning to government with Merkel's parties to avoid snap elections in the New Year.