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Germany's Left Looks for Speed Limit -- and New Identity

Germany's beleaguered Social Democrats have sought to re-invent themselves at its party congress on the weekend. Among the measures in the party's new platform are a speed limit for autobahns and a return to the party's traditional values. Observers are divided about the wisdom of the shift to the left.

Germany's center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) has been adrift recently, behind in the polls, overshadowed by the popularity of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and riven by in-fighting. Now the party has tried to reaffirm its identity at its annual party congress in a bid to make itself electable again. But will its shift to the left prove a wrong move?

On Sunday, the last day of the party's three-day congress in Hamburg, the SPD approved a new party platform to be known as the "Hamburg Program." With the new platform -- only its third since World War II -- the SPD is seeking to get back to its core principles in an attempt to reaffirm its identity and revive its flagging fortunes ahead of the next German federal election in 2009.

The Hamburg Program marks a shift to the left for the party. It is criticial of unfettered capitalism and contains several references to "democratic socialism" -- a phrase which has been hotly discussed within the party over the past few years. "We need to get close to the people again," SPD leader Kurt Beck said during his speech at the congress. Recently the SPD has been struggling to maintain its identity as its coalition partner, the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), has muscled in on traditional SPD social policy territory, in an attempt to appeal to voters on the left.

The congress was a triumph for Beck, who was reelected as party chairman Friday with a huge majority. He emerges from the conference as the party's undisputed candidate for chancellor in 2009, although doubts remain as to whether he has what it takes to topple Merkel.

In a surprising policy decision, the SPD voted in favor of introducing a speed limit of 130 kph (80 mph) on Germany's autobahns, famous for their lack of speed limits, in a bid to reduce CO2 emissions. However the policy is unlikely to make it into law, due to opposition from the CDU: In an interview on Sunday, Merkel said a speed limit "is not going to happen with me." Germany's powerful car lobby opposes autobahn speed limits, arguing that they reduce demand for its high-performance automobiles.

The program also rolls back some of the "Agenda 2010" welfare reforms introduced under former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who helped pioneer the "Third Way" approach in the 1990s. Among other policies, the SPD agreed that unemployed people over 50 should be eligible for full benefits for 24 months instead of 18. The decision marks a victory for Beck, who was recently engaged in a high-profile spat over the issue with senior SPD politician and Labor Minister Franz Müntefering.

The party congress, which comes half-way through the grand coalition's term, effectively marks the beginning of the campaign for the 2009 election. The remaining two years of the grand coalition government are likely to be less harmonious than the first two. One sign of that was Merkel's criticism of the SPD's new direction. "We had enough of socialism with the GDR," she commented dryly on Friday evening, in a reference to her native East Germany.

Writing in Germany's main newspapers Monday, commentators are divided over the SPD's move to the left.

The left-leaning Berliner Zeitung writes:

"The Social Democrats, which have always seen themselves as the guardians of social justice, not only damaged its image with many voters through Agenda 2010 -- it also lost tens of thousands of members and its very identity. The SPD is fighting for survival. At the party congress, delegates and leaders tried to stave off impending doom. They wanted to prove that they, and no one else, are the party for a social Germany. … With its new policy platform, the SPD wants to focus on its identity and make itself attractive to voters once again."

The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

"The SPD party congress has benefitted the grand coalition as a whole -- for the moment, in any case. What use is a self-destructing coalition partner to Chancellor Merkel? An SPD which suffers from having different political wings lumped together, which cannot differentiate between illusion and reality and which cannot find a direction due to indecision -- such an SPD obstructs the work of the government as a whole. Angela Merkel would surely find such a situation amusing if a federal election was just around the corner. But half-way through the legislative period, it is annoying."

"At the party conference, the SPD aggressively set out its priorities, especially in the area of social policy, and is now getting ready to take on Angela Merkel. Minimum wage, unemployment benefits, temporary work: The SPD's cards are on the table. That is good for the coalition, because it can now concentrate on concrete politics, rather than getting sidetracked with illusory battles. It is good for the CDU, because it stops them from succumbing to the temptation of relying solely on Merkel's popularity and coasting idly along until 2009. If the chancellor, however, believes it is enough to simply dismiss many of the SPD demands as a shift to the left which leave the political center free for her, she will lose. … The SPD has spoken. Merkel cannot afford to remain silent for too long."

The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:

"It was a party conference full of ambiguities. The SPD wants to get back to its roots, but it doesn't want to 'go backwards.' They want to be close to the people again, but they don't want to be as populist as the Left Party. They certainly want to stay in power, but the rank and file don't want to make things too easy for their cabinet ministers."

"The Hamburg Program ignores the fact that capitalism has enabled economic development. It sees capitalism primarily as a threat to freedom, democracy and the environment and accepts globalization, at best, as a one-way street for the imposition of European social standards on the rest of the world."

The conservative Die Welt writes:

"With their new policy platform, the Social Democrats affirm that they now believe more in the state, are more critical of capitalism, more in favor of redistribution of wealth, more populist and more half-hearted. … That is their right. But it is not good. The majority of Social Democrats may be able to understand the point of distancing themselves from a political concept like Agenda 2010 precisely at the point that it is proving to be a success. The majority of the electorate, however, does not understand that."

"In Hamburg, the SPD has stepped far to the left with one leg while keeping the other leg firmly rooted in the center. Suddenly, more by accident than design, it stands both wider and deeper in the political landscape. Its strategy could now consist of turning this accident into a permanent condition."

"One of the clear messages from Hamburg is that Beck will be the SPD's chancellor candidate in the election year 2009. But it still remains unclear whether he has the makings of a chancellor."

The Financial Times Deutschland writes:

"The SPD has achieved an important objective at its party conference: The three days in Hamburg have, for the time being, pacified the party, which had been suffering from fierce internal feuding in the past few weeks. … The importance of the Hamburg peace treaty for the SPD is that it can once again concentrate on the fight against its political opponent."

"The way the coalition partners are now polluting the atmosphere in the grand coalition with mutual attacks does not bode well for the second half of the legislative period. Admittedly, it is an exaggeration when the CSU rants about a split in the coalition. Similarly out of place is Merkel's accusation that the SPD is heading towards GDR-style socialism. Nevertheless, it is clear that the current fight between the SPD and the CDU for the trophy of being the most socially-minded party is a serious burden for the coalition."

-- David Gordon Smith, 2:30 p.m. CET