Among its manifesto commitments, the party advocates an end to all arms exports

Germany’s Left party (Die Linke) on Sunday adopted a national platform with a focus on social care that also calls for the NATO alliance to be scrapped.

Although the party has no realistic chance of forming a government, it could have a say in policy as part of a future coalition.

What is the Left party promising?

Foreign policy: An end to all foreign deployments of the Germany’s military, the Bundeswehr. The party wants to replace NATO with a collective security system involving Russia. In addition, the party advocates an end to all arms exports.

Climate change: An energy revamp with a focus on renewable energy. The party also wants to phase out coal by 2030 at the latest and to see Germany climate-neutral by 2035.

Transport: The manifesto would commit to a goal of local public transport free of charge, and for rail travel to also become cheaper. There would also be a ban on domestic flights of less than 500 kilometers (310 miles).

Christian Democratic Union (CDU)

The CDU has traditionally been the main center-right party across Germany, but it shifted toward the center under Chancellor Angela Merkel. The party remains more fiscally and socially conservative compared to parties on the left. It supports membership of the EU and NATO, budgetary discipline at home and abroad, and generally likes the status quo. It is the largest party in the Bundestag.

Christian Social Union (CSU)

The CSU is the sister party of the CDU in Bavaria and the two-act symbiotically at the national level (CDU/CSU). Despite their similarities, the CSU is generally more conservative than the CDU on social issues. The CSU leader and premier of Bavaria, Markus Söder, ordered crosses in every state building in 2018.

Social Democrats (SPD)

The SPD is Germany’s oldest political party and the main center-left rival of the CDU/CSU. It shares the CDU/CSU support for the EU and NATO, but it takes a more progressive stance on social issues and welfare policies. It is currently in a coalition government with the CDU/CSU and is trying to win back support under interim leaders Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel, Manuela Schwesig and Malu Dreyer.

Alternative for Germany (AfD)

The new kid on the block is the largest opposition party in the Bundestag. The far-right party was founded in 2013 and entered the Bundestag for the first time in 2017 under the stewardship of Alice Weidel and Alexander Gauland. It is largely united by opposition to Merkel’s immigration policy, Euroscepticism, and belief in the alleged dangers posed by Germany’s Muslim population.

Free Democrats (FDP)

The FDP has traditionally been the kingmaker of German politics. Although it has never received more than 15 percent of the vote, it has formed multiple coalition governments with both the CDU/CSU and SPD. The FDP, today led by Christian Lindner, supports less government spending and lower taxes but takes a progressive stance on social issues such as gay marriage or religion.

The Greens

The Greens, led today by Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck, emerged from the environmental movement in the 1980s. Unsurprisingly, it supports efforts to fight climate change and protect the environment. It is also progressive on social issues. But strong divisions have occasionally emerged on other topics. The party famously split in the late 1990s over whether to use military force in Kosovo.

The Left

The Left, led by Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger, is the most left-wing party in the Bundestag. It supports major redistribution of wealth at home and a pacifist stance abroad, including withdrawing Germany from NATO. It emerged from the successor party to the Socialist Unity Party (SED) that ruled communist East Germany until 1989. Today, it still enjoys most of its support in eastern Germany.

Author: Alexander Pearson

Immigration: The party advocates residence and work permits regardless of employment duration and for the qualifications of non-EU citizens to be recognized. It rejects the notion of deportation, especially where war and persecution are a reality.

Social care: The party wants 200,000 more nursing staff in hospitals and nursing homes, and an increase in basic pay for employees. It also wants a statutory staffing level, and for hospital and care groups to be transferred to public ownership.

Tax: The party advocates a wealth tax with a progressive rate and an exemption amount for private assets of €1 million ($1.2 million). It also wants a tax rate of 53% from €70,000. A wealth tax of 60% is to be levied on incomes of just under €261,000, and 75% on incomes of over €1 million.

Labor: A minimum wage of €13 (currently €9.50). Temporary employment and fixed-term contracts without a fixed term would be abolished. The party also proposes a four-day week of around 30 hours as a normal work model.

Health: A rent cap throughout Germany. The Left party also wants to promote social housing construction with €15 billion annually.

Pensions: The Left party wants to introduce a minimum pension of €1,200. Instead of retirement at 67, employees should again be able to retire at 65 at the latest without deductions.

Janine Wissler and Dietmar Bartsch, who are the co-leader of the party and the co-leader of its parliamentary faction respectively, are to be the party’s flagbearers in the lead up to the September 26 election.

rc/nm (AFP, dpa)

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-left-party-plans-to-scrap-nato-end-troop-deployments/a-57973017

The post Germany’s Left party plans to scrap NATO, end troop deployments first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

An increasing number of people living in the UK have applied for repatriation to Germany since the June 2016 referendum result for Britain to leave the EU, according to government figures.

Individuals who were persecuted by the Nazis and their descendants made up the majority of those applying, a report on Friday said.

Of the 3,731 applications since 2016, 3,408 referred to the German Constitution’s Article 116. Under the article, former German citizens who were deprived of citizenship on “political, racial, or religious grounds” — and their descendants — are entitled to have citizenship restored.

Read more: Will Brits say ‘au revoir’ to French dream post-Brexit?

Tens of thousands of Jews fled Germany for the UK before and during World War II. They included some 10,000 children who were evacuated as part of the so-called “Kindertransport” between December 1938 and August 1939, most of whom never saw their families again.

Sharp rise in applications

The increase in those applying for repatriation increased significantly after the UK’s Brexit referendum, according to figures published by the Funke Mediengruppe newspaper group.

Hard or soft options

It’s essentially a choice of a harder or softer Brexit. Harder prioritizes border control over trade. UK firms would pay tariffs to do business in the EU, and vice versa. The softest Brexit would see access to the single market, or at least a customs union, maintained. That would require concessions — including the payment of a hefty “divorce bill” — to which the UK has provisionally agreed.

Businesses have expressed concern about a “cliff edge” scenario, where Britain leaves the EU with no deal. Even if an agreement is reached at the EU bloc level, the worry is that it could be rejected at the last minute. Each of the 27 remaining countries must ratify the arrangements, and any might reject them. That could mean chaos for businesses and individuals.

No deal – better than a bad deal?

If there is no agreement at all, a fully sovereign UK would be free to strike new trade deals and need not make concessions on the rights of EU citizens living in the UK or pay the financial settlement of outstanding liabilities. However, trade would be crippled. UK citizens in other parts of the EU would be at the mercy of host governments. There would also be a hard EU-UK border in Ireland.

Divorce-only deal

The EU and the UK could reach a deal on Britain’s exiting the bloc without an agreement on future relations. This scenario would still be a very hard Brexit, but would at least demonstrate a degree of mutual understanding. Trade agreements would be conducted, on an interim basis, on World Trade Organization rules.

Limited arrangement, like with Canada

Most trade tariffs on exported goods are lifted, except for “sensitive” food items like eggs and poultry. However, exporters would have to show their products are genuinely “made in Britain” so the UK does not become a “back door” for global goods to enter the EU. Services could be hit more. The City of London would lose access to the passporting system its lucrative financial business relies on.

Bespoke deal: Swiss model

Under the Swiss model, the UK would have single market access for goods and services while retaining most aspects of national sovereignty. Switzerland, unlike other members of the European Free Trade Area (EFTA), did not join the European Economic Area (EEA) and was not automatically obliged to adopt freedom of movement. Under a bilateral deal, it agreed to do so but is still dragging its feet.

The Norway way

As part of the European Economic Area, Norway has accepted freedom of movement – something that no Brexit-supporting UK government would be likely to do. Norway still has to obey many EU rules and is obliged to make a financial contribution to the bloc while having no voting rights. Some see this as the worst of both worlds.

A Turkey-style customs union

Turkey is the only major country to have a customs union with the EU, as part of a bilateral agreement. Under such an arrangement, the UK would not be allowed to negotiate trade deals outside the EU, instead having the bloc negotiate on its behalf. Many Brexiteers would be unwilling to accept this. It would, however, help minimize disruption at ports and, crucially, at the Irish border.

No deal, no Brexit?

EU President Donald Tusk says the outcome of the talks depends on Britain, citing a good deal, bad deal or “no Brexit” as possible options. However, with both of the UK’s major political parties – the Conservatives and Labour – committed to going ahead with Brexit, that looks unlikely.

Author: Richard Connor

In 2015, there were only 59 applications, while in 2016 — the year the UK Brexit vote took place in June — there were 760. In 2017, 1,824 applied, and 1,147 applied in the first eight months of 2018.

The Funke Mediengruppe figures were obtained in response to a parliamentary question from Germany’s pro-business Free Democrats (FDP).

Read more: Germany preparing for no deal on Brexit, says Merkel

Aside from Jews, many other groups fled Germany and the Nazi regime, including members of the Roma community, homosexuals and political opponents.

‘Not surprising’

According to FDP interior affairs spokesman Konstantin Kuhle, the development showed that many UK citizens were keen to retain “the benefits of European citizenship” within the EU.

“This is not surprising given the British government’s chaotic Brexit negotiation line,” Kuhle said, adding that the EU should not forget “that many people in the UK feel close to the EU.”

Read more: Plotting Conservatives reject Theresa May’s Brexit plan

The 2016 referendum, called by then Prime Minister David Cameron, ended with 52 percent voting in favor of Brexit, and 48 percent against.

The number of Britons living in Germany who seek German citizenship has also increased significantly since June 2016.

June 2016: ‘The will of the British people’

After a shrill referendum campaign, nearly 52 percent of British voters opted to leave the EU on June 24. Polls had shown a close race before the vote with a slight lead for those favoring remaining in the EU. Conservative British Prime Minister David Cameron, who had campaigned for Britain to stay, acknowledged the ‘will of the British people’ and resigned the following morning.

The former Home Secretary Theresa May replaced David Cameron as prime minister on July 11 and promised the country that “Brexit means Brexit.” May had quietly supported the remain campaign before the referendum. She did not initially say when her government would trigger Article 50 of the EU treaty to start the two-year talks leading to Britain’s formal exit.

March 2017: ‘We already miss you’

May eventually signed a diplomatic letter over six months later on March 29, 2017 to trigger Article 50. Hours later, Britain’s ambassador to the EU, Tim Barrow, handed the note to European Council President Donald Tusk. Britain’s exit was officially set for March 29, 2019. Tusk ended his brief statement on the decision with: “We already miss you. Thank you and goodbye.”

June 2017: And they’re off!

British Brexit Secretary David Davis and the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, kicked off talks in Brussels on June 19. The first round ended with Britain reluctantly agreeing to follow the EU’s timeline for the rest of the negotiations. The timeline splits talks into two phases. The first settles the terms of Britain’s exit and the second the terms of the EU-UK relationship post-Brexit.

The second round of talks in mid-July began with an unflattering photo of a seemingly unprepared British team. It and subsequent rounds ended with little progress on three phase one issues: How much Britain still needed to pay into the EU budget after it leaves, the post-Brexit rights of EU and British citizens, and whether Britain could keep an open border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.

November 2017: May pays out?

Progress appeared to have been made after round six in early November with Britain reportedly agreeing to pay up to £50 billion (€57 billion/$68 billion) for the “divorce bill.” May had earlier said she was only willing to pay €20 billion, while the EU had calculated some €60 billion euros. Reports of Britain’s concession sparked outrage among pro-Brexit politicians and media outlets.

December 2017: Green light for phase 2

Leaders of the remaining 27 EU members formally agreed that “sufficient progress” had been made to move on to phase 2. Talks will now focus on a transition period and the future trading relationship between the two sides. While the Britain’s Theresa May expressed her delight, European Council President Donald Tusk ominously warned that the second stage of talks will be “dramatically difficult.”

Author: Alexander Pearson

rc/sms (AFP, dpa, kna)

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/brexit-jewish-families-in-uk-who-fled-nazis-seek-german-passports/a-45950709

The post Brexit: Jewish families in UK who fled Nazis seek German passports first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

After 13 years in power there is little that chancellor Angela Merkel has yet to do. Yet Wednesday marks a premiere for the German leader: the first-ever question-and-answer session between a chancellor and MPs in the Bundestag.

No one in Berlin expects a House of Commons-style roasting, particularly given Merkel’s fire-blanket rhetorical ability. And yet hopes are high that the session will help return a pulse – and public attention – to German parliamentary democracy.

Leaders of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) are licking their lips at the prospect of blaming the chancellor for a growing scandal over major mistakes in the asylum system following the 2015 refugee surge. European allies, meanwhile, hope she will use the opportunity to fill in the many blanks in her vision for the future of the EU.

Eight months have passed since French president Emmanuel Macron’s Sorbonne speech urging the EU be salvaged with a radical leap forward. Even by sober Merkel standards, the chancellor’s responses to date have fallen short, held back first by elections, then extended coalition talks and now by uncomfortable new political insecurities.

Not even a sprawling two-page interview with Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine at the weekend provided all the answers on how far the bloc’s powerful leader is prepared to follow Macron on reforms.

ESM fund

A headline proposal of his plan is to transform the ESM bailout fund, born in the euro crisis, into a long-term European Monetary Fund (EMF) to offer member states short- and long-term loans in exchange for reforms. Reflecting disagreement around the continent, Paris and Berlin are still at odds over the terms of the loans, the size of the pot and the EMF’s legal basis.

Germany’s already limited enthusiasm for the EU executive has been dampened even more since the Macron proposals

Merkel says she is open to an EMF giving conditional, limited, reform-linked 30-year loans, as well as shorter-term loans to EU countries “that get into difficulty through external factors”.

The conditions for such shorter-term loans is looser than the “existential” risk required to activate ESM intervention, and has seen ears prick up in Germany. Fearful of a “transfer union” at German expense, many here are wary of the legal basis of any new fund.

The ESM is an intergovernmental construct, outside EU law, and Berlin wants to avoid placing the EMF entirely under the purview of the European Commission.

Germany’s already limited enthusiasm for the EU executive has been dampened even more since the Macron proposals, framed in many circles in Germany as an additional attempt to pickpocket German taxpayers.

Merkel argues the new fund should be “organised between states” and come under “the corresponding rights of national parliaments”. It should act as a second pillar of economic stability in the EU, she suggests, overseeing budgets as well as doling out loans.

That would make it the equal of the commission, infringing on its powers to examine states’ competitiveness and adherence to euro debt rules.

Germany is ready to make a greater financial contribution to the post-Brexit EU budget

She backs the idea of closing development gaps between member states by deploying an “innovation budget for the euro zone”. But, again given personal misgivings and fiscal hawks breathing down her neck, Merkel remains cautious.

She proposes a fund with a “low, double-digit” billion capacity to be introduced on a staggered basis, to evaluate its efficacy. And she left open a major question: whether or not it should be managed inside or outside the EU budget.

Germany is ready to make a greater financial contribution to the post-Brexit EU budget but, with an eye on the ascendant conservative camp inside her Christian Democrats (CDU), the Eurosceptic AfD and the populist Bild tabloid, “how much more is relative”.

‘First answer’

After waiting eight months, the Élysée Palace made the most of the German leader’s “first answer” to Macron’s far-reaching proposals, calling it a “positive move which shows the commitment to Europe of the chancellor and her government”.

At home, indicating the narrow corridor the chancellor has to tread, the modest Merkel proposals annoyed in equal measure both the pro-Macron and anti-transfer union camps.

Christian Lindner, head of the liberal Free Democrats (FDP), suggested Merkel is backing an “overdraft” for wobbly EU neighbours and called for a “return to stability rules”.

Today’s Bundestag question time will likely be dominated by the political fallout of Germany’s asylum scandal and her push for common EU asylum rules. Less interest is likely to be given to her noteworthy backing at the weekend for common EU election lists and a joint EU military intervention force.

But after letting countless opportunities pass, Wednesday’s Bundestag question time provides an ideal stage to put a bit more meat on the bones of Germany’s EU plan.

“Compared to grand words Macron chose, Merkel’s draft appears rather meagre,” noted the Süddeutsche Zeitung on Tuesday. To achieve a compromise, the French leader will have to come down off his rhetorical roof, it added, while “Angela Merkel will have to climb a few stairs”.

The post Merkel’s EU plans in spotlight as she faces German MPs for first time first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

This figure is not new. On the contrary, referred to as “Der deutsche Michel” or “the German Michel,” it was popularized in the 19th century as a character whose limited perspective causes him to shun great ideas, eschew change and aspire only to a decent, quiet and comfortable life.

But Michel has now made a comeback. And who can blame him? Germany now boasts a booming economy, near full employment, rising wages, and content unions. The financial crisis is long forgotten, public budgets are under control, and the 2015 influx of migrants has been relatively well managed.

What bad news there is — industrial scandals (like that at Volkswagen), airline bankruptcies, endlessly delayed infrastructure projects — does little to dampen the general sense of safety and wellbeing enjoyed by Germany’s Michels. The only real threat, it seems, is the world outside Germany’s borders.

In this sense, last autumn’s election campaign was perfectly suited to Germany’s Michels. “A land where we live well and happily,” the campaign slogan of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), resonated with them, as did the rather provincial and mostly empty messages of rival parties. With the exception of the right-wing populist Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD), the parties displayed a rote civility and drowsy acceptance of consensus that pacified the electorate.

After the election, the real politicking began, but even then pains were taken to obscure those activities from Germany’s Michels. But Germany’s political class, like its ordinary Michels, is in denial. The soporific federal elections, the breakdown of coalition talks among the CDU, its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Greens, and the Free Democrats (FDP), and the timid dance between the CDU and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) since then all point to a serious deficit in German politics.

The truth is that the various party platforms, which are meant to inform the electorate and provide a basis for coalition talks, reveal a shocking lack of imagination and paucity of new ideas. Second-order issues are presented as red lines, with largely technical questions taking center stage.

A Merkel-led minority CDU government forced to muster coalitions of the willing to address the critical issues confronting Berlin and Europe could free the system from party tacticians and enable real and much-needed reform.

Helmut K. Anheier

Considering the state of Europe and the world, and the hopes many outsiders are pinning on German leadership, these issues seem rather marginal. But the real problem is that they are distracting from larger issues relating to, say, the euro, security and defense, migration, infrastructure, and taxation.

Lacking any forward-looking political visions, German politics has degenerated into tactical plays being carried out by established players. The CDU can live neither with nor without Merkel, while the SPD is unsure of itself and fears further political decline. None of this bodes well for a country whose parliament has already been diminished, after these three parties, during their eight years forming a coalition government, marginalized the opposition and failed to build up new leadership cadres.

Coalition agreements in Germany have always been elaborate documents of a quasi-contractual nature. But there is a growing tendency to plan out four years of governing, with leaders then using legislative periods not to debate laws, but rather to enact previously agreed policies.

Moreover, no major reform has been successfully implemented in Germany since the 2000s, when Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder pushed through labor-market reforms. No forward-looking reforms of the caliber of Schroeder’s Agenda 2010 were even attempted under Merkel in over a decade.

The CDU/CSU and the SPD are now pursuing a grand coalition that would keep Germany roughly on the same path it has taken during the last eight years. The 28-page agreement that will allow formal coalition talks to proceed is overly detailed, technocratic, unambitious, and lacks vision.

It is thus unsurprising that, though CDU/CSU and SPD negotiators have touted the deal as a breakthrough, many, especially in the SPD, are unhappy with the outcome, with some calling for renegotiation. The SPD now faces a choice: At its special party congress this weekend, its leaders must decide whether to join yet another grand coalition government that promises more of the same, or move into opposition, probably triggering new elections.

But there is another option, which many have ignored: a CDU-led minority government, with Merkel as chancellor. Freed of stifling coalition agreements with a reluctant SPD or a coldly calculating FDP, Merkel could choose her cabinet based on competence and vision, rather than party politics. She could even appoint ministers from other parties.

Most important, Merkel could finally tackle the important issues that have fallen by the wayside in recent years, to which the current coalition agreement pays only lip service. This means cooperating with French President Emmanuel Macron to move the European project forward; modernizing Germany’s public administration system; preparing the labor force for digitization; and tackling immigration issues.

Michel may prefer the modest policy initiatives and incrementalism that have characterized Merkel’s chancellorships. But a minority government forced to muster coalitions of the willing to address the critical issues confronting Germany and Europe could escape the constraints of Michel’s expectations, freeing German politics from party tacticians and enabling real and much-needed reform. In other words, the modicum of political insecurity Germany faces today may well be just what the country needs to give rise to new ideas and voices, and a better future.

• Helmut K. Anheier is President and Professor of Sociology at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin.

Source: http://www.arabnews.com/node/1228461

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The German Chancellor is already suffering from a damaged ego over a failure to form a coalition following September’s embarrassing election defeat.

And now Angela Merkel is struggling to maintain grip over her own party members from the Christian Democratic Union as the EU looks to its wealthiest country for leadership on governance reform within the bloc.

Fears were raised after German Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt went against Mrs Merkel to vote in favour of a five-year extension for glyphosate, a controversial weedkiller, without consulting the chancellor.

It was also against objections of the Social Democrats (SPD) – who Mrs Merkel desperately hopes she can form a coalition with.

The controversial move shocked Brussels and even raised raised eyebrows among Germany’s counterparts, including the French Agriculture Minister Nicolas Hulot, who told politics news site Politico he was shocked that Germany “was not more solid”.

Reacting to the news, Mrs Merkel said: “As for the vote of the agriculture ministry yesterday on glyphosate, this did not comply with the instructions worked out by the federal government.”

Mrs Merkel has turned to the SPD after she failed to form a three-way coalition with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the ecologist Greens.

And in another sign of her diminishing power, Michael Roth, a Social Democrat state secretary in the foreign ministry, voted against orders to back Dublin if Frankfurt’s bid failed in a vote over the future location of the European Banking Authority.

Mr Roth had in fact backed Paris, which went on to claim victory.

EU members are now watching on nervously as their de facto leader struggles to regain control within her own country, long considered the economic powerhouse of the EU.

One Brussels official said: “If this becomes a precedent, it could affect any number of issues in the coming months.”

Discussions surrounding Brexit are also creating deep divides in Germany as Britain’s decision to leave creates cracks in the EU powerhouse.

While Mrs Merkel fully backs EU Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, a Social Democrat, has aligned himself more closely with the French.

It is believed French officials are beginning to become frustrated with Mrs Merkel’s reluctance to back Emmanuel Macron’s ambitious plans to reform.

And while the 39-year-old president ploughs ahead with his plans for further EU integration with the introduction of a Brussels army and shared defence budget, Mrs Merkel will attempt to form a government around a divided camp.

Source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/886225/Angela-Merkel-Germany-German-elections-latest-EU-latest-news

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Merkel: We hope to be ready to initiate phase two by December

Former foreign minister Joschka Fischer said reform of the sprawling EU was vital and “continuing with the status quo” was simply not an option.

In an outspoken attack he accused Angela Merkel and Germany of failing to reach out to French President Emmanuel Macron, who is calling for an urgent overhaul of the bloc.

He said “sticking with the status quo is no longer an option” as Germany remains in chaos over coalition talks following Mrs Merkel’s dismal election victory.

Mr Fischer said it would be a “fatal” move for Germany not to get on board with France’s reform plans.

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