German Federal Election September 27

SPIEGEL Interview with SPD Chancellor Candidate Frank-Walter Steinmeier: A CDU-FDP Government Would Be 'A Threat to Stability in Germany' - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International: "It's good for democracy that grand coalitions remain the exception. Long-standing grand coalitions naturally pose the risk that the fringe, the extremists, will gain strength. That's another reason why the repeat of a grand coalition should not be the goal of politics."

The interviewer said that the word out on Steinmeier was that he was a secret lover of grand-coalitions but he deferred. Merkel has been flanked by the two powerful finance minister Steinbrück and foreign minister Steinmeier as SDP have had a good deal of the power in the current grand-coalition. Steinmeier apparently hopes voters will rally to the SDP and prove the polls wrong because not only does he dislike the grand-coalition the black and red but also the red-red-green which would be SDP, Die Linke and the Greens. Steinmeier does not believe Oscar Lafontaine is fit for governing since he as an SPD leader left and formed the Left Party out of the old East German communist party.

Apparently on the lands level Germany is going to be governed by black and yellow groupings, i.e., CDU/FDP which would be the same as Allianser. Steinmeier means that on the federal level a coalition between CDU and FDP is not going to materialize and that it would destabilize Germany. He is probably only tactical when he plays down the grand-coalition. If not black and yellow black and red seems the only reasonable arrangement.

Otherwise Unity governments seems to be popular. Netanyahu fought for one in Israel recently. There is thus a replacement in stall for regular democracy but because no one can talk about TTDE no one wants to discuss that. A grand-coalition in Sweden is not unlikely though. What would have to happen is just that Kristdemokraterna and the Left party falls under 4% and thus breaks both blocks, as suggested by Lena Hennel the other day a SvD.se.

Steinmeier is worried that grand-coalitions lead to the ascent of fringe parties but this did not happen in the European Parliament even if some people wanted to spread these rumors. In Germany I guess he is worried over the recent success of Die Linke in regional elections. The left party phenomenon is interesting though as a moderator for the increased dependence of energy from Russia. A new form of harmony in between the two countries.

The election September 27 will tell whether Germany will follow Sweden with an Alliansen or if Sweden might follow a grand-coalition in a year.