Word: spd
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...common noises or the feel of clothing on their skin. A number just seem clumsy. Adults can remember kids like these from their own childhood. They were the ones called losers, loners, klutzes and troublemakers. At STAR Center they wear a more benign label: children with sensory processing disorder (SPD...
...ntefering had recently quarreled with Chancellor Angela Merkel over her refusal to introduce a minimum wage; he had also tussled with his own party's left wing over government plans to roll back welfare reforms introduced under the previous SPD-led government. But already questions have shifted from what engendered Müntefering's departure to what it could mean for the future: a leftward shift in the SPD, the end of any meaningful economic reforms for the current German government, and possibly the opening salvo in elections expected...
...ntefering was a key figure of compromise in Germany's ruling partnership between Merkel's center right Christian Democratic Union and the SPD, the two "volksparteien" that have ruled Germany in coalition since 2005. He may be best known outside Germany for his disparaging remarks in 2005 comparing hedge funds to "locusts" that descend on a country and strip it bare (a comment of which he remained proud, keeping a statue of the insect on his desk). But Müntefering was in fact a more centrist figure than many of his party colleagues. Newspapers referred...
...Analysts in Berlin said that Müntefering's departure will make it more difficult for Merkel's CDU to find common ground with its governing partners. The SPD has suffered more than its conservative partner as a result of the partnership, seeing its support sink even as Merkel's personal popularity has risen. In an attempt to win back voters, the SPD 's party chief Kurt Beck moved the party towards the left, arguing, for example, for increases in welfare spending - over Müntefering's strenuous objections. Business leaders in Germany have also complained that the government...
...that will tear this coalition apart have come into full view," wrote the left-wing Berlin daily Tageszeitung. "Müntefering's retreat from politics is coming at a particularly bad time," added Die Welt, a center-right daily. "Müntefering was the most effective anchor keeping the SPD from drifting to the left. Now the Grand Coalition will no longer concentrate on their similarities but on the election campaign." The government, of course, will continue to govern. But the best chances for agreement on important economic issues may have left the room with Franz Müntefering...