Main focus of Tuesday, September 29, 2009

What will become of the Social Democrats?

After their major defeat in the elections to the Bundestag, Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) have been relegated to the opposition with just 23 percent of the vote. For the last four years the SPD formed a grand coalition with the conservative Christian Democrats. The European press discusses the future of the battered Social Democrats and their relations with The Left party.

Népszabadság - Hungary

The left-liberal daily Népszabadság comments on the SPD's bitter election defeat in Germany's federal elections: "After eleven years in government the German Social Democrats are demolished. Their miserable results in the election (23 percent) also mean that the gap between them and the Greens and the deep-red The Left party has narrowed dramatically. Not so long ago, back in 1998, the SPD was able to garner 41 percent of the vote as the leading force of the Left. … What has happened to the SPD now could already be observed in other European countries. The times when the socially disadvantaged were represented by a single big party are gone. And on top of that the SPD has faced competition from left-wing rivals twice within a short period of time. First the Greens lured away its voters and then The Left party did the same. The SPD has neither been able to find answers to the age of globalisation nor has it come to terms with the other left-wing parties. It seems to be facing a hopeless situation." (29/09/2009)

» full article (external link, Hungarian)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Germany
All available articles from » András Dési

De Volkskrant - Netherlands

Germany's social democratic SPD party must strike a new path after losing Sunday's elections to the federal Bundestag, writes the left-liberal daily De Volkskrant: "Just like in France, the UK and the Netherlands, social democracy is under great pressure in Germany. German voters see [Christian Democratic Chancellor Angela] Merkel ... as a more reliable crisis manager than the Social Democrat [and unsuccessful chancellor candidate] Frank-Walter Steinmeier. That now means the SPD must recover its self-confidence and its power of attraction in the opposition. In doing so it must bear in mind that it lost most of its voters to competition from the Left. Consequently it is clear the SPD will try to adopt a 'more leftist' profile in a bid to win back these supporters. That means putting aside differences and moving closer to The Left party, which the SPD has so far treated like a pariah. Centre-Left can only be an alternative to Centre-Right if it overcomes the divisions within the Left. A grand coalition does nothing for the SPD." (29/09/2009)

» full article (external link, Dutch)
More from the press review on the subject » Elections, » Germany

Lidové noviny - Czech Republic

"While the Social Democrats have suffered their worst defeat in the entire post-war era The Left party is celebrating," the conservative daily Lidové Noviny observes: "The Left party, a mixture of social democratic deserters and former East German communists, won more votes than ever. With 12 percent [of the vote] it took its place among the strongest German parties, ahead of the Greens, even though the latter were also able to celebrate their ten percent. … At least as far as eastern Germany is concerned the formation has come close to its goal of becoming a major party. It may be that by the time the next elections are held former East Germany is as monochrome as Bavaria, which has been ruled by the Christian Socialists since the last war. … And what is The Left's goal now? More governing coalitions with the Social Democrats at a state level,  [Oscar] Lafontaine [the co-chairman of The Left party] has said. Which is just a warm-up for a red-red coalition [an SPD-The Left party coalition] at a national level - perhaps as soon as the next elections." (29/09/2009)

» full article (external link, Czech)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Germany
All available articles from » Luboš Palata

La Repubblica - Italy

Commenting on the German Social Democrats' election defeat and the weak position of the British Labour Party in the left-liberal daily La Repubblica Anthony Giddens sees two reasons for the decline of centre-left politics in Europe: "One is that the crisis has deepened the rifts within the Left by fuelling the radicalism of those who … rejected reformism. In many countries the division between a reformist Left and a radical Left has intensified owing to the economic crisis. … Today Europe is confronting new problems that are causing concern: immigration, crime, the search for national identities in view of globalisation. … The centre-left camp needs two things now: the formulation of a new political concept to deal with the problems of a radically changed world and the capacity to unite all its forces by putting an end to the division between moderates and radicals [in its own ranks]." (29/09/2009)

» more information (external link, Italian)
More from the press review on the subject » Elections, » Germany, » Europe
All available articles from » Anthony Giddens

» To the complete press review of Tuesday, September 29, 2009