worst result in post-war history many party members demand renewal but can that even happen in a grand coalition. where. promises but we don't keep them here. will cave in just like we did in the last coalition. but based on my experience we can't get much done if we're an opposition party. right from the start i was opposed to another coalition but now i've noticed that local party members tend to favor it or they say the coalition plan on contains a lot of policies that are important to the social democrats. might find it hard to counter those arguments. either. in north rhine-westphalia we've had a cd liberal coalition for a year now they did things that leave them open to criticism by the s.p.d. . like abolishing public transport discounts for people on welfare. but the s.p.d. that actually fell three points in the polls despite the fact that they attacked numerous policies. ten percent of the people who voted for the s.p.d. their last time around it would not do so today so does being in opposition really accomplish anything. twenty four thousand people have recently joined the s.p.d. it's

he says this contuation of grand coalition, politics might lead to stability and progress in europe, but -- in germany. charlotte, the coalition agreement, essentially the blueprint for the government and its goals and plans, has a visionary title. new impetus for you to -- for europe, new vision for germany. your statement seems to indicate you don't think the content lives up to the billing. charlotte: that's true. those are grand words that do paint a vision for the next four years, but if you look at the 179 pages, it is really lacking vision. what we are seeing is easy fixes to underlying problems. we are seeing a lot of presents for voter groups. families with children or pension ears, we are giving out money here and there and spending the big box. but the coalition agreement is not addressing the underlying problem's germany will have to face and that will make germany fit for the future. i'm talking about the very broken pension system, a very urgent need for digitalization to bring reception to areas that are still without any cell phone reception and many other issues and i

members to vote against a grand coalition. to notice traveling throughout germany today he's in the telling of the time near frankfurt. lots of s.p.d. members want to have their say and there's a big crowd here today. it was tonight the leader of the party's youth organization who launched the debate. about. our election manifestos no longer sound like s.p.d. principles but a compromise tailored to a grand coalition we know we have few options if we want to get into government we can only do it with the conservatives. and. that is why we limit ourselves in developing new ideas. it is clear that we've given up and are not willing to come up with real solutions to current issues now thought that we have reduced our thinking to suit the grand coalition. with. the s.p.d. was part of a grand coalition from twenty thirteen to twenty seventeen the party had to make concessions then to live in last autumn selections the s.p.d. took only twenty point five percent of the vote its worst result in post-war history many party members deman

as profound within a grand coalition. and that at a time when we have seven parties in the border states. could not head for the railway station. his next stop is the town of overalls and a few kilometers away. here the s.p.d. took a mere seventeen point five percent of the vote in the last federal election so party members are understandably quite nervous four hundred people are here today. they have to wait while their names are checked against the official membership list. and it was a bit negative into is looking forward to the discussion even though he's already made up his mind he's in favor of the coalition. and the mission is this the as it is just as far as i'm concerned it's the only realistic option we have in what would happen if we vote against it but rudest would do it and i think you could then just forget the s.p.d. for the next twenty years the good in our party can do this for at least the balance wasn't up there and these people are here to debate the party's future but many also want to see kevin tonig

campaign of the social democrats in germany and in the netherlands he says this continuity of grand coalition politics might lead to stability and progress in europe but also a growing pullers ation within germany. show that the coalition agreement which is essentially the blueprint for the government and its goals and plans has a visionary title this is it new impetus for europe new dynamism and cohesion for germany your opening statement seems to indicate that you don't think the content lives up to that billing that it's very true i mean i think those are grand words that do want to paint a vision for the next four years but if you look at those one hundred seventy nine pages it is really lacking vision what we're seeing here is basically easy fixes to underlying problems so we're seeing a lot of presents for a lot of voter groups for example families with children or pension years we're giving out a little bit of money here and they're spending the big bucks but they this coalition agreement is not really addressing the underlying problems that germany will have to face and that will make

policies have been included in the coalition agreement so i believe that we can now form another grand coalition even though that's not what we wanted at the start of it for the party or to mr goodwin. a lot of the people here don't care about the coalition agreement they want to debate fundamental values and renewing the party. cannot believe that if the s.p.d. joins the coalition its profile would become even less clearly defined. that. i'm against a coalition has come is that look it's just one compromise after another isn't it we've fallen so far already and i hate to think where we'll be when the coalition comes to an end we might be glad to make the five percent to stay in parliament would send shock if the party members do vote no new national elections are likely possibly in october the opinion polls make that a daunting prospect for many grassroots members but not. why are more votes in our view we have no control over the possibility of new elections but a party that's afraid of new elections and calm presenting policies effectively might as well just give up the current because no one

bases is so divided and there are a lot of people who really want to renewal outside of a grand coalition i was seeing just reading some of the german press the last couple days there's speculation that the s.p.d. will probably not even say to the actual name.

they all have one thing in common they will decide whether or not could remain chancellor in a grand coalition. correspondent with us here in studio who's also been following these are coalition negotiations for us as we heard there that is another big hurdle and that's why the social democrats have been fighting so hard to come out of this coalition. asians with a good deal to take to the party members and as we've heard the s.p.d. has managed to take some good ministry post some top ministry posts tell us how significant that is it's really an excellent result for the social democrats i mean with martin shultz leading probably the foreign ministry that is a very important post which was an s.t.d. hands before we have to say he will be of course a strong european supporter so that is a huge deal for the s.p.d. and then the other ministry that came as quite a surprise as the finance ministry which was before in christian democratic hands and has been a key post for christian democrats for a long time so it's going to be very interesting to see if it's probably going to be led by the mayor of h

welcome kate germans don't say i'm not keen on a grand coalition anymore. governed by well in the last government why they got off the idea. well the main reason fail is that voters just as we were hearing in the run up to september election is that they want change there's a real sense of political stagnation in germany right now and we've had two ground coalitions in three of merkel's terms in office and we've also seen both of the parties involved it well that especially two of the three parties involved in this grand coalition moving towards the center ground of germany's political spectrum and in turn those social democrats especially have really lost their identity and have been overshadowed by conservatives and she's poached many of the party's policies and this is also the main reason why many people especially from the s.p.d. from the social democrats oppose a new grand coalition because they feel that if they were to join a new grand coalition then this wouldn't give the party the opportunity to regenerate and redefine its profile at the same time

and the social democrats are set to announce that they have reached an agreement to form a new grand coalition after marathon all night talks. i have seen the service going to thank you for joining us we have breaking news here at this hour in berlin it's now been confirmed that germany's two biggest political groups have reached an agreement on forming a coalition government now outside the city you had quarters at chancellor angela merkel's party her conservatives and the social democrats under martin schultz are set to announce plans for a new grand coalition any minute now you see these pictures live this follows days of negotiations in which the two were deadlocked over issues like health care reform now today's agreement still faces a vote by nearly half a million social democrat party members. and our political correspondent hans has been standing out in the cold all morning waiting and watching this story for us hi hans what details do you have for us on this agreement. well it seems clear it's clear now that an agreement has in fact been reached just a few minutes ago the former gener

announce that they have struck a deal but how much enthusiasm is there for another so-called grand coalition to join us for comprehensive live coverage. i'm sorry so much got to thank for joining us germany's two biggest political groups have reached an agreement on forming a coalition government conservatives and the social democrats under martin schultz are expected to announce their plans shortly now the agreement follows days of negotiations and protracted attempts to form a new government after elections in september so let's bring in our political correspondent hans bronte is standing by for us outside the c.d.u. party headquarters that is anglo-american a party if you can hear me we can't see you yet but this is a long awaited break through what we're details can you tell us about this agreement. well the most the most controversial points in the end at the end of the negotiations over the last roughly twenty four hour. where the ones concerning labor law reform and. medical aid to reform as well as discussions about all the various ministries would be distributed between the two part

four hundred fifty thousand members to approve the grand coalition with macas conservatives the vote will show whether the s.p.d. backs her as leader and whether germany will have a new government. and earlier i spoke with our correspondent thomas sparrow and i began by asking him if it was more likely that the s.p.d. would say yes to a grand coalition with merkel's conservatives now that knowledge is expected to be the next party leader. while the four hundred sixty three thousand s.p.d. members will certainly be voting on whether to accept or not to accept that deal and it had become evident that martin shows had become a burden for many of those s.p.d. members from that perspective it can be seen as a positive news for those who want another grand coalition but the fact is also sorrow that many who reject the grand coalition do so not because of martin shows but because they want their party to not be in a grand coalition but rather to start dutch ridicule from the opposition as the largest party in opposition so it is still unclear what this this decision today will mean for the

but because they want their party to not be in a grand coalition but rather to start. from the opposition as the largest party in opposition so it is still unclear what this this decision today will mean for the wider party for the vote of the four hundred sixty three thousand members and obviously for the grand coalition itself. thomas sparrow in berlin thank you. well media reports in israel say police have enough evidence to recommend that prosecutors consider charging prime minister benjamin netanyahu with bribery netanyahu denies any wrongdoing but he's been questioned several times over the last year and is a suspect in two separate cases let's get more now on this breaking news with our. middle east correspondent tanya kramer who is joining us now from jerusalem and tanya a short while ago actually benjamin not netanyahu responded to his critics quite defiantly fill us in well prime minister netanyahu spoke quite in length he said you go to stay in office and he said that there was not one day that his family wasn't attacked and he said that these recommendation

party headquarters in berlin reporters wait for information on the progress of talks to form a grand coalition one hundred thirty four days after germany's general election the country is still without a government. updates from the parties have been few and far between. believe me when we can so we live in ten times what people want from the mainstream policies the conservatives on social democrats is that we form a reliable government if it gets off the population it will be for this people even under mounting pressure the leader of the center left s.p.d. is full of confidence. so i have good reason to think we're in the final stretch i'm hoping for a positive spirit to the talks and a good result for our country on this rules are on. and the leader of chancellor merkel's more conservative sister party the c.s.u. from the state of bavaria sounded more upbeat then earlier in the day listen it's good for. everyone has to get out of the trenches digging in our heels won't work anymore the moment of truth is upon us. but the wait goes on in the meantime the coalition partners in waiting are hash

showed that that stability is still there and obviously she hopes to bring this through into a grand coalition deal and of course we've also seen muckle and so much pressure particularly since september election if you think back her party came away with that with their worst. in post-war history and yet she still at the helm of the cd you of course the big question is regardless of whether she makes an early exit or not is who is going to be michael successor and right now there isn't anyone lined up so that is going to be a big task for the c.d.u. in the next few years right in a lot of speculation swirling on just who that could be and merkel herself as promised to bring in a new generation of young leaders in her conservative block will that satisfy her critics exactly i mean the comment that she made yesterday evening about bringing younger people into the into cabinet positions is is that will that's likely to appeal at least to younger critics and they've had particularly loud criticism from the youth wing of the conservatives who have been demanded more younger people in the party to p

well that vote is incredibly important because it's the final hurdle before the grand coalition it can actually become a reality and we're talking here of the entire membership of the social democrats we're talking here of four hundred sixty three thousand people who will have to decide on the future of the grand coalition who will have to give the green light to it and many within the party in particular the youth branch of the party the so-called users are staunchly against another version of the grand coalition and all this is going to be particularly important when we start to find out the results of the beginning of may of march sorry when we will find out whether this deal in fact can be turned into reality and i don't think anyone here in germany can predict now what result we will see at the beginning of march just another surprise on the road to get a german government just to remind our viewers those elections they were back in september thomas sparrow with the latest from berlin thank you. in libya at least two people are dead and more than one hundred injured after a bomb a

money and investment is sorely needed so he could have done nothing none of all of these if the grand coalition in berlin wouldn't have come together because it was the liberal party of my coalition as they said in germany it would have been very difficult so he really needed this it's important not only for you it's important for micron's own political survival medium term so yes happiness in paris happiness in paris in the grand coalition two point zero is what i've called it it has a smaller majority then the previous grand coalition the a.f.d. the far right force is now in parliament what does this mean then for the business of governing and for getting things done the a.f.d. is an outlier nonetheless yes it's the biggest opposition party but i think the key question will be are they going to govern in the spirit in which this agreement was written they clearly have in mind the sense of many germans that the future is not secure that the sense that their children may not have it as good as they've had it the sense that certain regions of this country have fallen behind people leaving many p

father and son one for the grand coalition the other against at this s.p.d. event in northern germany there's only one question on everyone's minds should the party risk another coalition with anglo merkel's conservatives it's up to party members to decide including five b.n. stake now the critical young socialist and his father the veteran s.p.d. man and takes the lead with the party rush take now. i believe the majority of members will say yes if we convince them so we need to use the time i'll try to do my part even for his son and most of the party's younger members it's far from a done deal they want change. that's going to do that we need to be more proactive in forward looking string quartets are ok but we need some heavy metal too and a political keyboard. at home with his statements of course there's plenty of talk about politics the prospect of governing with angela merkel for another four years has triggered a number of arguments between father and son during this shift at the grand coalition doesn't happen i think we'd face a debacle in pressure e

go america's conservatives and the social democrats under martin shoals are set to form a new grand coalition government these are live pictures again from outside the the conservative headquarters here in berlin where we're waiting for them to come out and make a statement will be listening live to that as soon as that happens now this follows days of negotiations in which the two were deadlocked over issues like health care reform and labor law now today's agreements important to say it's still faces a vote where nearly five hundred thousand social democrat members will get to cast their ballots on this final agreement. and our political correspondent hans bryant has been following all of this for us he is outside the c.d.u. party headquarters for us hi hans this is a long awaited breakthrough what details have you been hearing there what do we know about this agreement right now. well at the moment there has been some confirmation that an agreement has been reached from from the social democratic party but we haven't in fact yet had an official statement here behind me as you can see every

long time so that i can be involved in policy making as a member of the opposition not within a grand coalition no more business as usual we need to make the social democrats strong again ever since the s.p.d. just barely passed a vote to enter formal coalition talks the number of new members has risen thanks to them the s.p.d. now has a total of around four hundred sixty thousand members some new members want to change the party others just want to prevent a grand coalition political experts say a new wave of members leaving is not likely this didn't happen in two thousand and thirteen the last time there was an s.p.d. member vote. the increasing number of new members is a sign the s.p.d. has become interesting for people who want to have a say in politics and think new tools to affect change which have been available up till now like voting in elections on snuff losing two seats in the state of lower saxony for example has registered more than a thousand new s.p.d. members and north rhine-westphalia more than four thousand since the end of january a record high. hunts for the a woman featured

criticism towards martin shows because he had in the past promised first that there would be no grand coalition and second that he would not serve as a minister and merkel two announcements were soon to be reversed as the s.p.d. as we saw has now signed a coalition deal with i'm going to local conservatives and then he announced himself that he planned to be foreign minister so there was a lot of criticism within the social democrats about the fact that he has some alleged put his personal goals and ambitions before the ambitions of the party still this is the first of potential minister stepping away from the post just two days after a coalition agreement was reached does that mean that this coalition could be at risk. it is still too early to say but it does stress the wobbly circumstances around this coalition deal the fact that we're talking here about conservatives and social democrats who are just to put it simply reluctant partners neither the conservatives nor the social democrats really wanted to form a coalition the conservatives wanted to form a coalition with two other parties the s

should be known on march the fourth only then will it be clear whether there really will be a new grand coalition. then well let's get some reaction now to this coalition agreement on top political correspondents with us here in the studio so after four months four months after that last election for to have lots of must be said germany finally has a blueprint for a new government if the s.p.d. rank and file approve it are we hearing a collective sigh of relief once there is a sense of relief obviously that this period of uncertainty this period of setbacks in the last full months is that there is a prospect of actually a stable government taking a in germany within the next few weeks in the foreseeable future but frankly if you look at the newspapers today i wrote a few here obviously all germans have as a photo of us today if you look at the paper skepticism is really the mood that is most car characteristic here this is a bit sidetone this is the largest populist popular daily in germany its headline ses amount hands the government to its social democrats on updates in other words as implicit

that could a grand coalition itself perhaps help the party get back on its feet s.p.d. deputy chairman of state now believes that in the end the rank and file will play along i think a bit jorrocks he will say yes if we can convince them we'll have to make good use of the next few weeks i'll try to do my part. his son and many other young social democrats are not convinced and they'd like a bigger say in running the party in the future. doesn't just mean i want to see a stronger push moving forward not just a string quartet but some heavy metal to on the political stage. on this stage. at least because of stigma sings the praises of policy unity however the vote may go. it may not be riveting all rocking but he'll be glad if his generation can stay in tune with a crucial younger section of the party base or. we will know sooner than later whether germany's s.p.d. survives this election but they're not the only center left party in europe facing an uncertain future france's socialists were practically wiped out in last year's parliamentarian elections despite being in po

had been centered on personnel issues on who would do what in the new grand coalition instead of focusing specifically on the issues on the content of that coalition deal and that was precisely the reason why martin short's announced that he would not be taking that position as germany's next to foreign minister because instead the party should be focusing on content on issues and also on the party's reveals something that has been mentioned all along by s.p.d. key politicians so what does this move though mean beyond the s.p.d. party though thomas what does it mean for the country what does it mean for the planned coalition because. you know we know that schultz for example that he steered the s.p.d. through these coalition talks does this move them threaten the new government well it just shows how wobbly or how weak this coalition is it is a coalition between conservatives and social democrats and neither the conservatives nor the social democrats really wanted this coalition the conservatives had preferred another coalition namely with the greens and the liberals but as we know. that

the chairman of state is here to drum up grassroots support for a grand coalition in berlin. his son fabienne takes a more skeptical view. as a member of the s.p.d. his youth wing he's against anyone you deny it's with under the americans conservatives as part of the festivities this fall the place the way to trying to wedge his fellow party members appetites for the coalition. we've got it right here are one hundred seventy seven pages long. take your time a drink perhaps it's all my house how about a cocktail martyn's martini surprise shaken not stirred shaken quite a bit in fact. nice everyone can laugh at jokes about the recently departed party leader martin sure it's there are too worried about the future four hundred and sixty five thousand rank and file members now have to decide whether to approve or reject the coalition the rift between young and old in the party runs deep. critical i'm voting against the grand coalition because i'm in the young socialists and i don't think i'd be good for the s.p.d. today. or been a member of this party for over forty years. if the

but there is criticism from other groups that nothing much is going to change under another grand coalition spoke to thilo brodtmann of germany's engineering association. he was certainly rather lukewarm about the coalition's tax plans. thilo: there is no increase of income tax, but only very little attempt to reduce taxes in germany for the time being. small things like what we call in germany -- they are going down, but not for everybody, not for people with lower income than others. so there's not much development here. we are really lacking reform that goes into the structure and helps companies. one thing that is a real pity -- the competition is rising and what we can do to be number one in exports for the time being, would be of course more innovation, and more innovation asks for tax credits for research. this might come, but only to a very small extent, not helping the whole problem. daniel: let's head over the pond. the volatility continues on u.s. markets today. wall street stocks shot up within minutes of the end of last session following massive swings over the past few days. s

party headquarters in berlin reporters wait for information on the progress of talks to form a grand coalition one hundred thirty four days after germany's general election the country is still without a government. updates from the parties have been few and far between. believe me when we can so we live in turbulent times what people want from the mainstream policies the conservatives on social democrats is that we form a reliable government if it gets off the population it will be for this people. even under mounting pressure the leader of the center left s.p.d. is full of confidence. so i have good reason to think we're in the final stretch i'm hoping for a positive spirit to the talks and a good result for our country in this rules are law. and the leader of chancellor merkel's more conservative sister party the c.s.u. from the state of bavaria sounded more upbeat than earlier in the day elizabeth before. everyone has to get out of the trenches digging in our heels won't work anymore the moment of truth is upon us. but the wait goes on in the meantime the coalition partners in waiting are

town hall meetings the party's grassroot is deeply divided as to whether they should agree to a grand coalition deal or not and the face of the rebellion against american led coalition is this young man kevin community leader of the party is used to doing he's trying to get members to vote no. on off i believe that we can explain to the people why a no vote for this grand coalition deal which i am calling for doesn't only mean a no but also a yes because if we're serious and pledge our word it can be a chance to create a different more social democratic policy or to put it to someone. as the face of the internal opposition the social democrats general secretary is rooting for a yes vote it's a first face off of many tonight the debate civilized but passionate in the middle of the event news breaks for the first time the far right alternative for germany party has overtaken the s.p.d. in a national poll the new numbers are a disaster for the party but the coalition campaign thinks it's best to hold course the space is the best way to tackle bad poll results to develop good concrete policies whic

to opposition and that they did not want to go into another grand coalition because they saw the grand coalition as precisely the root of their own problems and now we see these two political blocs conservative and social democrats actually trying to work together and find common ground something that they did manage to achieve with that coalition the other one hundred seventy seven pages but it is under no circumstances of love they are reluctant partners if you will and the fact that they're reluctant partners is just evidence in the fact that we're seeing all these internal problems are not only internal problems in the s.p.d. it's also important to stress that angela merkel herself has also been faced by criticism within within her own ranks. meantime we have to talk about europe because europe really written pretty big in this coalition deal of course martin childes a big friend of europe a big friend of brussels and strasburg schultz now gone will that change well it can be said that obviously with shultz as foreign minister europe would have had absolute key point a key priority

sixty thousand members will decide whether the agreement will stand as the foundation for a new grand coalition shields's message success he's a target stock we had a big influence on this agreement and we're grateful to the union parties for making compromises that were difficult for them but it chiva ball in the end just. one example in the coalition agreement fixed term employment would likely be the exception to the rule in future repeated contract extensions a thing of the past a clear concession to the social democrats another key demand from the s.p.d. made less headway little progress on a major overhaul of the german health care system the conservatives knew they needed to compromise in order to secure a coalition deal even the leader of the cd used by variances to party the c.s.u. had nothing but praise for the s.p.d. and the agreement with the. beast anyone who reads these one hundred seventy seven pages and i hope they will be widely read it will see what we are proposing is good for our country for all. and that's also what the s.p.d. is proclaiming the social democrats are getting