The head of Germany's center-left SPD defended the party's stricter stance on asylum policy. Andrea Nahles said it was "a big mistake" for the Green party to oppose designating more countries as "safe" for deportations.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B.v. Jutrczenka
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As part of a strategy to revamp Germany's struggling Social Democrats (SPD), party leader Andrea Nahles sought to draw a clear line between the SPD and the environmentalist Greens in an interview published on Saturday.
"Imitating the Greens does not help us," Nahles told the German newspaper Münchner Merkur, adding that this is particularly the case when it comes to asylum policy.
"The Greens take a simple position. Our course is nuanced, but also realistic," she said.
Nahles added that it's a "big mistake" for the Greens to oppose designating more countries as safe countries of origin, which makes it easier to deport asylum-seekers whose applications have been rejected.
"Look at Georgia, where a new form of gang crime is developing. You can't close your eyes and ears and pretend it's about civil war refugees," she told the paper.
Living with the threat of deportation
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SPD battles for recognition despite coalition partner status
Despite this, the party has battled falling numbers in opinion polls, while the Greens have seen a steady rise.
According to the latest "Deutschlandtrend" survey released on Friday, support for the SPD was at 18 percent — down from the 20.5 percent they received in last September's general election, which was their worst-ever result.
The Greens, on the other hand, are polling at 15 percent — much higher than the 8.9 percent they received in the election.
The latest poll also put support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) at 16 percent, making it the third strongest party behind the SPD and Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc.
The SPD, which is Germany's oldest party, has been criticized by voters and party members for not sticking up for its base and pushing for workers' rights and social policy.
Although recent poll numbers haven't been promising, Nahles has received more support as a leader within her fractured party, including from the SPD's youth wing.
"Andrea Nahles shows mind-boggling dedication," youth wing leader Kevin Kühnert told the newspapers of the Neue Berliner Redaktionsgesellschaft. "She takes a great deal of time for personal consultations and calls again early in the morning or late at night."
Nahles hopes to turn around the SPD's dipping poll numbersImage: picture-alliance/Zuma Press/O. Messinger
CSU's behavior is 'shabby'
In the interview, Nahles also took aim at the SPD's governing coalition partners, Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU).
Although Nahles emphasized that not all migrants who come to Germany can stay, she criticized Interior Minister Horst Seehofer's CSU for using migration issues to try to raise its profile in the polls.
"I refuse to raise my own profile by behaving badly towards the weakest in society. This is the difference to right-wing populists, but also to the CSU. Their behavior is often shabby."
As the October 14 state election in Bavaria draws closer, the SPD hopes to garner more support for the center-left party in the traditionally conservative, CSU-dominated state.
Currently, the CSU dominates the polls, followed by the Greens, SPD and AfD.
Germany's major political parties — What you need to know
There are seven political parties in the German Bundestag and they rarely agree on anything. DW takes a look at their ideologies, leadership and history.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Schmidt
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.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Schmidt
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.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Schuldt
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.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/W. Kumm
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.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/U. Deck
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.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/W. Kumm
The Greens
The Greens, led today by Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck, emerged from the environmental movement in the 1980s. Unsuprisingly, 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.
Image: picture-alliance/Eventpress Rekdal
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.
