Germany's embattled center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) began a three-day party congress in the northern city of Hamburg on Friday, Oct. 26 to seek ways to shore up flagging support and resolve a bitter row over painful labor market reforms passed by former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.

SPD Kurt Beck, who was elected by delegates later in the day to a new two-year term with a strong 95.5 percent tally, launched an attack on his Christian Democrat coalition partners with a hard-hitting speech acccusing them of trying to hide their neo-liberal agenda and trying to steal SPD voters.

Referring to Christian Democrat Chancellor Angela Merkel's recent push for the benefits of Germany's economic recovery to be spread across the population, Beck said: "We welcome Ms Merkel's comments, but there is a copyright on such social democratic ideas."

SPD looks to regain lost ground

Merkel has gained popularity by crusading for traditional SPD causes such as the fight against climate change and programs to support families and children.

Beck, who trails Merkel in personal popularity polls, has vowed that the SPD will no longer let Merkel take credit for the coalition's accomplishments while the SPD gets blamed for its failings.

The SPD's abandonment of traditional socialist compassion is believed to have been a major reason the party has lost ground to the CDU.

"At their core, the conservatives are still a party of neo-liberals and free market radicals," said Beck, 58. "They are now pretending to be in favour of social policies but in reality they are still pursuing neo-liberal goals."

There's a sense of urgency in the SPD that the party needs to regain its vision. Recent polls show that voters are abandoning the party in droves. Its approval rate has dropped to below 30 percent from 34.2 percent in 2005. The CDU has since risen towards 40 percent from 34.9 percent in 2005. The SPD has a lot of ground to make up if it wants to re-take the chancellery in the 2009 elections.

Reforms to be partly rolled back

The SPD is also wrangling over its future course ever since Beck this month said the government should reverse cuts in jobless benefits for elderly unemployed people introduced Schröder's Agenda 2010 package of sweeping labor and social reforms which sparked major nation-wide demonstrations.

Economists, business groups and some senior SPD politicians, led by vice-chancellor Franz Müntefering, have attacked the proposal, arguing that Germany should not leave its economic reform course.

Despite the opposition, many party members indicated their support for scaling back the reforms. Members agreed to stick to their decision to increase the retirement age from 65 to 67, but to do so more gradually. They also decided to prolong unemployment benefits for elderly workers.

Reforms can be "adjusted": Schröder

The decision to give workers 24 months of unemployment benefits is seen as an about-face for the SPD. Schröder, who spoke at the SPD conference, said he was not worried about the decision to scale back his Agenda 2010 reform package.

Speaking at the congress, Schröder indirectly criticised Beck by arguing that changes to Agenda 2010 were possible but should be made to make the reforms "better" and not just because the changes are "popular."

"Support him (Beck) and the work of the SPD ministers," Schröder said ahead of Friday evening's vote. "The 'Agenda 2010' is an instrument and not the final goal. It can be adjusted."

Schröder, who ruled from 1998 to 2005, urged the party to remind voters of what the SPD has accomplished in the past decade in areas such as energy, climate, immigration and social policies.

"The conservatives fought us for that and now they're copying us," he said. "You're the original. They're the fakes."

CDU general secretary Ronald Pofalla accused Beck of pushing the SPD to the left.

"He's taking the party backwards instead of looking forward," Pofalla said.

Beck insisted Friday he was not moving the SPD sharply leftwards, but only wanted a "careful readjustment" of the market reforms.

Beck said he wants to correct the reforms "at a number of points, but without going backwards."