The Social Democrats and others need to offer credible solutions to rising inequality whether they want to compete with the strong and steady chancellor
• Christian Odendahl is chief economist at the Centre for European ReformThe German elections on 24 September are bound to be boring. Polls reveal Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) leading the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) by 15 percentage points. Absent a miracle for the SPD,Merkel will be re-elected as chancellor for the fourth time. The really interesting question is: why?Merkel has an unmatched ability to disarm her opponents and demobilise their supporters. Take the recent legalisation of gay marriage. Merkel realised her party’s official opposition would cost her votes. So she allowed MPs a free vote, which meant that gay marriage passed by a landslide. Merkel herself voted against the motion to protect her conservative credentials, and but the issue was politically neutralised. Related: Angela Merkel races ahead in polls with six weeks to depart whether the SPD is to reclaim lost ground and mobilise its voters,it needs to be more radically social-democratic Related: Angela Merkel’s most daunting opponent is complacency | Martin Kettle Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com