\n<\/p>\n
Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) must be ready for painful compromises in government, parliamentary group leader Matthias Miersch said at the party’s national conference on Saturday.<\/p>\n
After leading the previous German government under ex-chancellor Olaf Scholz, the centre-left SPD nosedived to 16% in February’s parliamentary election and is now the junior partner in Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s administration, in coalition with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Bavaria’s Christian Social Union (CSU).<\/p>\n
The party faces difficult choices, Miersch said, highlighting a vote in parliament to suspend familiy reunification for migrants with limited protection status in Germany on Friday.<\/p>\n
“This is a compromise that was not easy for us. But it is in the coalition agreement,” emphasized Miersch in Berlin.<\/p>\n
The SPD base approved the agreement with a large majority and must now implement it, he said. To do so, Miersch said the party’s lawmakers need solidarity from the party membership.<\/p>\n
He also called for recognition of initial achievement in social policy, such as the extension of a brake on rental prices and an investment package for German companies.<\/p>\n
“That’s why it’s important to find a balance,” said Miersch.<\/p>\n
Miersch’s speech came on the second day of the three-party conference.<\/p>\n
Party co-leader Lars Klingbeil, who serves as finance minister and vice chancellor in Merz’s government, was dealt a political blow on Friday when he was re-elected to the top party job, albeit with less than 65% of the vote.<\/p>\n
Among those appearing on Saturday was Klingbeil’s former co-leader Saskia Esken, who was pushed out of the party leadership after the election.<\/p>\n
Esken said she was stepping down “without melancholy” and used her speech to thank former chancellor Scholz, who also attended the conference.<\/p>\n
Scholz promised that he can be counted on to cherish the party’s centre-left values long after his time in office.<\/p>\n
“I intend to be a former chancellor that the SPD will always be happy to have,” he said during his farewell speech at the conference, marking his exit from the top job last month.<\/p>\n
The SPD has had a difficult relationship with another former chancellor, Gerhard Schr\u00f6der, for years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n