Germany’s new coalition partners have struggled to reach consensus on everything from taxes to pensions to climate change. But one thing unites them: a desire to be the country’s most socially progressive government in more than a generation.
The coalition agreement they presented on Wednesday includes a broad array of policies that could have a huge positive impact on immigrants, lesbian parents, transsexuals, and other minorities.
“My heart is racing with joy,” said Greta Garlichs, spokeswoman for QueerGrün, the Greens’ LGBTQ+ lobby group. “So many queer people are writing to me saying how relieved and happy they are.”
The coalition deal contains a range of proposals designed to please libertarians and progressives. Cannabis will be legalized, the voting age lowered to 16, and mass video surveillance in German cities banned.
The new government also promises to create a more welcoming regime for immigrants. It will make it easier for them to obtain residence permits and, ultimately, German citizenship, and smooth the entry of foreign skilled workers into the German labor market.
“The fact that we are finally owning up to being a country of immigration is really groundbreaking,” said Jessica Rosenthal, head of the Jusos, the SPD’s youth wing. “It’s truly a breakthrough.”
Businesses also welcomed the plans. “With our population aging, Germany needs net immigration of 400,000 a year and it seems the new government really understands that,” said one senior financial services executive. “This is hardcore economics. ”
The coalition deal was the fruit of a month of negotiations between Social Democrats, Greens and liberals following national elections on September 26 that resulted in a narrow SPD victory. The agreement allows Olaf Scholz, the current finance minister, to succeed Angela Merkel, who is retiring from politics after 16 years as chancellor of Europe’s largest economy.