The firebrand youth wing of the Social Democratic Party in Germany is using tactics inspired by Jeremy Corbyn to recruit a surge of new members to try to torpedo a coalition deal with Angela Merkel.
Kevin Kühnert, head of the Young Socialists, is promoting a drive for coalition opponents to join the SPD temporarily for just €10 simply to vote against governing with Mrs Merkel’s conservatives.
Mr Kühnert, 28, has become the leader of resistance to a new “GroKo” — grand coalition — and reports from local branches suggest that at least 1,700 new members have signed up since the party leadership narrowly won approval at a special party conference on Sunday to begin formal talks.
The Young Socialists are modelling themselves on the Momentum movement, the network of supporters of Mr Corbyn which is driving his left-wing agenda in the Labour party. German activists were briefed in Berlin this week by Emma Rees, a founder member of Momentum, on a two-day visit that included an appearance at a think tank linked to the SPD.
“They are trying to take a page out of Jeremy Corbyn’s and Momentum’s book,” said Michael Broening, a political analyst at the Friedrich Ebert foundation which hosted Ms Rees yesterday. “It may not be decisive because contrary to the British example they have just weeks to get organised not months to bring people in,” he added. “The party establishment will take counter measures, they are not just sitting back waiting for things to happen. There is a dilemma for them because they talked of the need to open up the party [after the loss of support at the election in September] but now the door is really opening they are reluctant.”
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Leaders of the SPD are due to begin formal coalition talks soon with Mrs Merkel’s conservatives but the final deal, expected in about three weeks, will be put to a postal vote of all 440,000 party members. The talks represent Mrs Merkel’s last chance of forming a majority government after she came top in the September election but suffered the loss of 65 seats. If the talks collapse or the deal is rejected by the SPD she has said she would prefer fresh elections to running a minority government, which puts extra pressure on the SPD as its poll rating has dipped since recording a post-war low in September’s vote.
A poll showed only 31 per cent of Germans think a new GroKo is good for Germany. Just 34 per cent thought Mrs Merkel’s conservatives made the most of the preliminary talks, and only 10 per cent thought that of the SPD. A total of 53 per cent think the CDU will profit from a new GroKo while only 26 per cent think that of the SPD and 30 per cent think the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD) will benefit.