German Chancellor Angela Merkel in conversation with Brigitte editor in chief Brigitte Huber.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel might be facing a tough election for a fourth term in power in September, but that hasn’t stopped her changing her mind and coming out in favour of same-sex marriage, and, wait for it, a free vote in Parliament — a decision that has stunned Germany. And it looks like German parliamentarians will vote on the issue this Friday. So how’s that for speed, Turnbull?
Merkel had been opposed to the idea, and no one thought the issue would emerge in the run-up to September’s poll — even though the German public is overwhelmingly in favour. But on Monday night, three months before the election, at a forum sponsored by Brigitte, German’s biggest-selling women’s magazine, she revealed her about-face. Other big parties in the poll — the Social Democrats, Greens and the Left — all support changing the law (a bit like here in Australia).
The Financial Times reported that Merkel revealed her change of heart in a reply to a question at the forum.
“She said she would like to move ‘rather in the direction of a conscience vote than that I now push something through by a majority decision’. And she called for ‘respect’ for those ‘who find such a decision difficult’. But she indicated that she had changed her own mind since the last parliamentary election campaign in 2013 when she said she found ‘full equality’ difficult, especially with regard to adoption. On Monday, she said she had been moved by the example of a lesbian couple in her own north German constituency who had fostered eight children. ‘I can no longer so easily use the argument about the children’s wellbeing,’ she said.
As a result of her about-face, there are now calls for a parliamentary vote on the issue as soon as this week, before the Bundestag’s last sitting ahead of September’s election, but the Abbott-like dinosaurs tried a last-minute attempt to delay any vote until the new Parliament. It is a forlorn hope, as any bill is expected to easily pass the Bundestag on a free vote.
Now German media say the vote will be held on Friday. Martin Schulz, leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) — the second largest party in Parliament — called for Parliament not to wait until after the federal election in September. “We will push through marriage equality in Germany,” he tweeted. “This week.” His party has long supported the idea, but it is trailing in the polls behind Merkel (after moving to an early lead at the start of the year).
As the FT points out:
“According to opinion polls, only around 20 per cent of Germans oppose gay marriage, down from 40 per cent 15 years ago. Thirteen of the 28 EU states have legalised gay marriage, since the Netherlands became the first nation in the world to do so in 2001. Gay marriage remains illegal in most eastern European member states.”
The Pew Research Centre meanwhile says an overwhelming number of Americans support gay marriage (62% versus 32% opposed). In 2011, the split on the issue was 46% to 44%. And a decade ago, 37% supported the idea, but 54% were opposed. Pew says 48% of Republicans oppose the idea, but 47% support it — the smallest the margin has been among this group.
‘I can no longer so easily use the argument about the children’s wellbeing,’ she says, as if to suggest she would if people were dumber more easily led.
no, that’s actually a malevolent misinterpretation of a sentence that does not translate well from German to English – Frau Dr Merkel in general tends to construct rather elaborate sentences, which are not easily translated in a literal way. The meaning was clearly that learning about the lesbian couple fostering 8 children, and the good that has been achieved through this, her conscientious objection to marriage equality and adoption rights can no longer be upheld.
Stand up and be counted Malcontent. Stop the guff about a “plebiscite” NOW.
There is nothing in the article to support the “unpopular leader” in the headline. Merkel has had ups & downs but everything I read suggests she is likely to win the coming election.
Of the 32% Americans reported to be opposed to gay marriage, I would be more interested to know how many are the fundamentalist, holy rolling religious nuts that USA is famous for, rather than their political leanings. Here in Oz, our own negative blowhards like Eric Abetz are more informed by his imaginary friend than his political leanings.
This article is more than incomplete – it actually gives a very false impression of what is happening in Germany and why Angela Merkel is being forced to make such a dramatic decision.
She has been very clear in her opposition to marriage equality in the past and in the lead up to the 2013 federal election many Germans were disgusted by her condescending answers to questions from a gay audience member during a Q&A session on national television.
Four years later and the driving force behind her turn around is her own political ambitions: the union of the conservative CDU/CSU parties will not win enough votes to govern in their own right – no party has ever won an absolute majority in federal elections since the founding of the modern German republic in 1949.
And now she’s been forced into a corner because about 10 days ago, a senior member of the German Greens proposed that marriage equality should be a precondition of entering into any coalition negotiations with any party after the federal election and this was agreed upon by the delegates at the national conference. The Liberals followed and eventually the SPD made the same decision. Merkel has no choice if she wants to prevent an SPD/Liberal/Green coalition and remain chancellor – this is also a typical pattern of hers on domestic issues and she cops a lot of criticism for it. It is not without risks for her – many party members and voters feel betrayed by her move to the centre.
Don’t feel too sorry for her – domestically, she has been a very disappointing chancellor and has also made many bad decisions which have only destabilised the EU – and all because she wanted to be seen as acting tough on all those lazy southern Europeans.
A really interesting response Pjp. I know b***r all about German politics, but I feel better informed having read your response.
Her party’s standing seems to have improved in the polling though, while AfD has gone down somewhat. Or this could just be a sign that SPD has peaked this time and will not be able to win the next election.