German Social Democrat (SPD) Martin Schulz has vowed to roll back 15-year-old welfare reforms in a bid to win back disillusioned supporters and oust chancellor Angela Merkel. With his promised shift, Mr Schulz, the SPD leader-in-waiting, has promised to reform the Schröder-era reforms credited with restarting the economy, but at a cost of job security and welfare payments.
“Making mistakes is not a crime,” he told workers in the western city of Bielefeld. “What’s important is that when mistakes are recognised, to correct them.”
Germany’s so-called Agenda 2010, a series of reforms introduced from 2003-2005, are credited with kick-starting Germany’s economy. However it undermined the voter base of Germany’s oldest political party, which has struggled to gain from the recovering economy. On the contrary, a mass exodus of disillusioned voters – to the left, Merkel or non-voter camps – left the SPD flatlining in polls at about 20 per cent.
Since the arrival of Mr Schulz as lead candidate last month, the party has rocketed in polls to move neck-and-neck with Dr Merkel's ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU). One weekend poll, by the Emnid agency for the Bild am Sonntag tabloid, suggested the SPD had actually overtaken the CDU – and this before Mr Schulz is even elected leader or presents a programme for September's federal election.
"I'm happy that I'm making the SPD happy," said Mr Schulz, after leaking to Bild the first proposals. They include revising rules limiting dole payments for 12 months – up to two years for over-50s – and to close hire-and-fire loopholes exploited by employers.
The SPD man’s strategy: to portray Agenda 2010 as correct for its time, when Germany faced record joblessness and zero growth, but requiring an overhaul at a time of record employment and steady growth.
At the centre of Mr Schulz’s power play – over-50s voters who feel the Schröder reforms undermined their security in the last decade of work.
At the event in Bielefeld he told of a man he had met who worked in a firm since the age of 14. Now over 50, he would get just 15 months’ unemployment benefit if he lost his job, before sliding down to the welfare minimum of €409 a month. “That’s just not on,” Mr Schulz said, promising to come up with alternative proposals in the coming weeks.
“He was very concrete and motivated us a lot,” said Hannelore Schmidt, a long-time SPD voter, at the event.
But long-time SPD critics say they will wait and see. “He says what people want to hear, but I remain sceptical,” said Susanne Neumann, a cleaner and union organiser. “I believe him that he wants to try everything but I can’t judge how much strength he has in this.”
Election analysts suggested that, with his announcement, Mr Schulz was keeping his options open for a left-wing alliance with the Greens and Left Party. However, with six months to polling day, election strategist Frank Stauss said: “The dosage is important, to give a taste of what’s to come without feeling the need to set off a firework every week.”
