The SPD Party held a 'congress' this week....trying to enthusiasm back into the limp situation of the party. If you go back to the September election and evaluate things....they were able to get 22-percent of the national vote, which is lowest number since WW II.
The theme put forward by their top guy (Schulz)....EU, period. There was no big chat about jobs, the economy, or typical German themes.
He tossed the chief idea for the Party to capitalize upon....forming up the United States of Europe. He talks of a EU constitution and putting the seat of power into Brussels. In his mind, the only way to fight climate change....is to have one massive state. To take on the problems of migration and immigration....one state. To fight this wave of tax avoidance....one state.
Problems with the idea? Well....Schulz even noted that the enthusiasm to go this far and create this type of environment....is not shared by the 27 remaining (leave out the UK) members. He even said it in the speech. He says that the new constitution would lay out the requirements to be in the 'club', and require each of the 27 EU members to ratify the constitution. Failure to do? You get dumped by the side of the road, and the ones who pass....get to remain in the EU.
How many EU members would fail to ratify such a constitution? It's hard to guess on this. I can think of three countries that might easily fail, and maybe another five that would have a very difficult time.
You can forget about this passing in Hungary, Croatia, and Poland.
Then Schulz hyped up that individual sovereignty of members would just dissolve. Military affairs, borders, and taxes would all be an EU thing...NOT a individual country thing. Once you throw that on the table....you might start to have other problems. Even in France, this wouldn't exactly be easy to sell.
I sat and looked at this speech and the theme. Here's the thing....the SPD Party used to be the party that represented working-class people. If you stood and evaluated the political stand and priorities of the party now? Well....this EU-united thing isn't a priority for working-class Germans. They'd rate this somewhere way past one-hundred on their priority list....maybe even way past three-hundred. Some SPD folks would even say that the Berlin leadership is unable to concentrate and really represent them....so how would the Brussels leadership do it?
My question is....if this were to all come and pass....when would you dissolve the Bundestag? You could turn the Bundestag building into some museum. All of these seven-hundred-odd political folks? Well, if they weren't part of the EU mechanism in Brussels, then they'd be sent back home and find regular work.
I kinda think that this whole EU strategy and theme for the next four years is pretty lousy for the normal supporters of the SPD, and they've devalued their brand-name once again. Slippage from the 22-percent? Yeah. In four years, they might be lucky to reach 15-percent. For the Greens, Linke, FDP, and AfD parties? It's their chance to build onto the numbers.
One last aspect of this whole concept....with all the drama of the UK leaving, and the intense negotiation involved....would you really want to go and create this situation a second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth time?
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