The German government is conferring outside Berlin to try to smooth tension between conservatives and Social Democrats. On the agenda are refugees, the economy, NATO, the EU and Germany's social welfare system.
Advertisement
Angela Merkel and her ministers are spending Tuesday and Wednesday in the town of Meseberg, about 70 kilometers (roughly 40 miles) outside Berlin. It's a retreat in both senses of the word: a meeting away from a usual place of work and a calculated withdrawal after a setback with the aim of regrouping.
Merkel held retreats for each of her previous governments, but there's arguably more at stake this time around. Her current grand coalition, almost six months in the making, has been beset by squabbling right from the start — particularly between leaders of Bavaria's conservative CSU and the Social Democrats (SPD).
Although NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker are attending, the emphasis is sure to be on German issues.
Heading off to the two-day retreat, German Transportation Minister Andreas Scheuer of the CSU referred to it as a "political camp."
Merkel is hoping that camping out in the baroque Meseberg Castle, the German equivalent of Camp David in the US or Chequers in the UK, will encourage the members of her coalition to form personal relationships and help bridge differences in policy.
Although Merkel headed a grand coalition in her previous term as well, 11 of the 15 ministerial-level government members are new. And they have brought with them some difficult clashes of personality and personal interest.
'Spahnhofer' dividing conservatives, angering Social Democrats
Seehofer's motivation for positioning himself and his party as the more hardline conservatives is obvious, given that Bavaria has a regional election this year. The CSU is trying to defend its absolute majority against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Ministers under Merkel: Germany's new government
The conservative CDU and CSU formed a "grand coalition" government with the center-left SPD in March 2018. DW takes a look at who's who in Chancellor Angela Merkel's fourth Cabinet.
Image: picture alliance/SvenSimon/E. Kremser
Chancellor: Angela Merkel (CDU)
Christian Democrat (CDU) Angela Merkel is Germany's chancellor. She is in her fourth term as leader of the German government and in her third at the head of a "grand coalition" between the CDU, its conservative Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Social Democrats (SPD). Merkel says she will not run for chancellor at the next general election in 2021.
Image: Reuters/F. Bensch
Minister of the Interior, Heimat and Construction: Horst Seehofer (CSU)
Seehofer was Bavaria's state premier until he took over the interior portfolio in Merkel's Cabinet. This will be the first time that the vaguely patriotic "Heimat" concept (roughly "homeland") is included in the interior minister's domain. Bavaria, however, has had a state Heimat Ministry for five years. Seehofer remains head of the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) in Bavaria.
Image: Reuters/M. Rehle
Minister for Foreign Affairs: Heiko Maas (SPD)
Former Justice Minister Heiko Maas succeeded his Social Democrat colleague, Sigmar Gabriel, as foreign minister in March. Maas was in charge of the Justice Ministry when the government passed a controversial internet law to combat hate speech online.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/M. Kappeler
Finance Minister: Olaf Scholz (SPD)
Scholz served as mayor of Hamburg before moving to Berlin to take the reins at the Finance Ministry. The Finance Ministry's capture was a significant win for the SPD. Scholz will also serve as vice-chancellor. He had been in Merkel's Cabinet once before, as minister of labor and social affairs from 2007 to 2009.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Sabrowsky
Minister of Defense: Ursula von der Leyen (CDU)
Von der Leyen has been defense minister since 2013 and kept her job in the new government. This comes despite numerous scandals within the Bundeswehr, Germany's military, that broke since she took over the Defense Ministry. Her relationship with the troops suffered, but Merkel trusts her.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Lübke
Economic and Energy Affairs Minister: Peter Altmaier (CDU)
Altmaier was Merkel's chief of staff at the Chancellery before his nomination to take over the Economy Ministry. The last time a CDU politician was in the post was half a century before. Altmaier is regarded as extremely loyal to the chancellor.
Image: Getty Images/M. Tantussi
Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection: Katarina Barley (SPD)
Katarina Barley took over as justice minister after serving as both minister of family affairs and labor in the previous government. The 49-year-old is a lawyer by training and holds both British and German citizenship.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/K. Nietfeld
Minister of Labor and Social Affairs: Hubertus Heil (SPD)
Hubertus Heil succeeded Andrea Nahles, who stepped down to take over as head of the SPD. A member of the Bundestag since 1998, Heil has twice served as the party's secretary general.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. von Jutrczenka
Minister for the Environment: Svenja Schulze (SPD)
Svenja Schulze replaced party colleague Barbara Hendricks, Germany's former minister for the environment, nature conservation and nuclear safety, in March. Schulze previously served as minister for innovation, science and research in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R.Vennenbernd
Minister for Health: Jens Spahn (CDU)
Jens Spahn, 37, is representative of a new political generation within the CDU and seen as a future contender for party leadership. In the last government, he served as the parliamentary state secretary in the Finance Ministry. Prior to that, he helped lead the CDU's health policy in the Bundestag.
Image: Getty Images
Minister of Education and Research: Anja Karliczek (CDU)
Anja Karliczek, a former hotel manager who is relatively unknown, was nominated by Merkel to take over the Education Ministry. She had a lot of money to spend: The ministry's budget was increased by €11 billion ($13.6 billion) to pay for school and university improvements shortly before her appointment.
Image: imago/M. Popow
Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth: Franziska Giffey (SPD)
Franziska Giffey's elevation from the mayor of Berlin's Neukölln district to cabinet minister was perhaps one of the most eye-catching appointments. Giffey bypassed the Bundestag altogether to ascend into government. But the SPD leadership believed her experience in charge of what has often been described as Berlin's "troubled" district made her the most suitable candidate for the role.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Gambarini
Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development: Gerd Müller (CSU)
Gerd Müller, 62, retained his post as development minister, which he has held since December 2013. He won the job over fellow CSU member Dorothee Bär, who was also in the running. Bär became the state minister for digital affairs in the chancellery, a newly created job.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/K. Nietfeld
Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure: Andreas Scheuer (CSU)
Scheuer, considered a close ally of CSU party head Seehofer, took over the Transport Ministry from party colleague Alexander Dobrindt. He is experienced in the field: From 2009 to 2013, he was parliamentary state secretary in the Transport Ministry. Prior to his latest appointment, he was the CSU's secretary general.
Image: Reuters/F. Bensch
Minister for Food and Agriculture: Julia Klöckner (CDU)
Klöckner previously worked as parliamentary state secretary in the Agriculture Ministry from 2009 to 2011. Between her ministerial stints in Berlin, she was deputy chair of the CDU and headed the CDU in the western German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Image: imago/Future Image/J.xKrickx
Chief of Staff at the Chancellery: Helge Braun (CDU)
Helge Braun took over from CDU colleague Peter Altmaier as Chancellery head in March. He had previously served in deputy positions in the Chancellery and Education Ministry.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Kappeler
16 images1 | 16
That's led to divisions within Germany's main conservative party, Merkel's CDU. Some within the CDU want the chancellor to put Seehofer in his place, as she did on the Islam in Germany issue, while others would rather she waited until after the Bavarian election.
Rarely a day has gone by without one of these two men making some sort of controversial statement. Political commentators have begun speaking of a miniature "Spahnhofer" rebellion in Merkel's own cabinet, and the SPD has called for the chancellor to put her foot down.
"Honeymoons don't look like this," the Social Democratic state premier of Lower Saxony, Stephan Weil, told the DPA news agency. "I hope the chancellor will ensure that the government quickly gets down to its job and acts as a team."
"I have the impression that my colleague Seehofer is in the later stages of a political career while Mr. Spahn is still in his adolescence," SPD deputy chairman Ralf Stegner told foreign reporters in Berlin on the eve of the Meseberg retreat. "But I don't think it's bad that they say the things they do, because they are helping us achieve one of our aims, namely to show that we're two different parties. They can make a bit of noise if they want. That doesn't bother me."
SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbeil also spoke in a radio interview of "the competition over the best headlines between Mr. Seehofer and Mr. Spahn."
But the SPD is undergoing an internal power struggle of its own, with younger members in particular calling for a return to classic social democratic positions and revisions to Germany's "Hartz IV" welfare system, which was brought into force under the SPD's last chancellor, Gerhard Schröder.
"We're living in the year 2018, so I think we shouldn't be engaging in a debate about 2003," Stegner said. "Some of the people leading the discussion now were of school age back then."
Yet whether Stegner likes it or not, the SPD itself currently claims to be in the process of reinventing itself, making compromise with its traditional political adversaries, the conservatives, all the more difficult.
Total employment as least common denominator
Ministers from each of the parties gave brief statements after the first afternoon of consultations, defining the new government's main domestic aim as total employment for Germany.
Economy Minister Peter Altmaier of the CDU said that the economic conditions in Germany were good and that the government was focusing on creating further jobs and representing German interests in debates about international trade.
"All in all it was a very successful beginning to the retreat," Altmaier said, "but there's lots of work to be done."
Labor Minister Hubertus Heil of the SPD stressed the benefits of total employment in Germany to workers, promising that it would be accompanied by fair wages and labor conditions. Heil added that the cabinet was looking at ways to encourage workers to build expertise and allow women to balance work and family.
Transport Minister Scheuer pledged that the government would create a "new dynamic for Germany" encompassing investments, reform and innovation. He said that more would be done to promote e-mobility and that mobility and machine building would remain Germany's leading industries.