Grand Coalition Policy Meets the EU’s Multiple Crises: Stability Discourse versus Party Politics

Abstract

The article investigates the cohesion of public discourse by members of the Merkel III government on three challenges of European governance: the negotiations on UK withdrawal from the EU, the management of the Greek debt crisis, and political responses to the entry of migrants into the EU and the refugee pact with Turkey. The rationale is to assess how unfolding controversy on German leadership in the EU prompted by these challenges is reflected in claims-making in relation to three frameworks of reference: namely, the supranational institutions and policies of the EU, the definition of German EU policy at the level of intergovernmental negotiation, and domestic policy in the context of European developments. Based on a mixed-method review of debates in the Bundestag, the main findings highlight the tension between two different forms of parliamentary debate: on the one hand, a mostly normative discourse making the case for the stability and continuity of EU policies by the Chancellor and other members of the Grand Coalition government; on the other, the projection of party political claims to call for policy modification at the EU and intergovernmental level, exposing fissures and even direct contestation between coalition partners, particularly in the controversy on the migrant crisis.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Frank Wendler is Interim Junior Professor for EU Multi-Level Politics at Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main, Germany (e-mail: [email protected]). Personal website: http://frankwendler.eu.

Notes

1 These include: Declaration by the Government (DG) on the Brexit referendum, 28 June 2016, BT-plenary protocol (PlPr) 18/181; Thematic Debate (TD) on the UK’s notification of intent to leave the EU, 30 March 2017, BT PlPr 18/228; DG on the Jubilee Summit, 9 March 2017, PlPr 18/221; and Current Issue Debate (Aktuelle Stunde) on 60 Years of the Treaties of Rome, 23 March 2017, PlPr 18/225.

2 Declaration by the Federal Minister of Finance: Stability Aid for Greece, 19 August 2015, PlPr 18/118; DG on the meeting of the European Council, 15 October 2015, PlPr 18/130; Current Issue Debate (Aktuelle Stunde) on the suggestions by French President Macron on EU economic and financial governance, 18 May 2017, PlPr 18/234; DG on European Council, 9 March 2017, PlPr 18/221; and DG on the European Council and G20 meeting, 29 June 2017, PlPr 18/243.

3 PlPr 18/118, 11466A.

4 G. Hasselfeldt (CSU): “Dies trägt eine deutsche Handschrift”, PlPr 18/118, 11471B.

5 Declaration by the Government (DG) on European Council on 18 June 2015, PlPr 18/112; DG on Informal Summit of EU Summit, 24 September 2015, PlPr 18/124; DG on the European Council on 15 October 2015, PlPr 18/130; and Current Issue Debate (Aktuelle Stunde) on the EU-Turkey Agreement, 12 May 2016, PlPr 18/170, as well as parts of plenary debates PlPr 18/243, 18/221, and 18/234 (see footnotes 12 and 13).