Word: spd
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...after, it's against those who think differently." Thus spoke Bjorn Engholm, leader of Germany's Social Democrats, at a special party congress in Bonn on right-wing violence. After months of painful argument over its long-standing defense of Germany's liberal immigration policy, the opposition SPD heeded Engholm's call and voted to move the party's position for political asylum closer to that of the ruling center- right coalition. The decision to push for a constitutional amendment to stem the influx of foreigners is based on the belief that reducing the number of asylum seekers will...
While the shelters burned, however, the politicians continued to fiddle. In principle, a move to change Germany's liberal asylum laws is closer, since the opposition Social Democrats agree that a constitutional amendment is needed. In fact, most of Bonn's energy went into fighting over SPD charges that the government has deliberately dawdled on processing and deporting unworthy asylum seekers to keep the pressure on for the legal change...
...Fully 93% of the East German electorate turned out to hammer the last nail in the Communists' coffin. A three-party alliance headed by the CDU, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl's sister party, shocked the supposedly front-running Social Democratic Party by winning 48% of the vote. The SPD captured only 22%. The conservative alliance fell just eight seats short of a majority in the 400-member Volkskammer, or parliament. Although that forced negotiations over the shape of the new government, one thing was clear. "This weekend," said East German writer Stefan Heym, "the German Democratic Republic died...
...defeated SPD has shown little inclination to cooperate. Some East German analysts suggest that the SPD does not want to lose its standing as the leading opposition to the Party of Democratic Socialism, the newly retooled communist organization, which took a surprising 16% of last week's vote. Others suggest that the Social Democrats' reluctance is inspired by Oskar Lafontaine, the SPD candidate who will confront Kohl in West Germany's national elections this December. Lafontaine may fear that by joining a grand coalition, his sister party in the East would be seen as a handmaiden of CDU policies...
...Maiziere, a lawyer, says that in his own legal work he was forced to have some contact with the Stasi while defending dissidents. The Stasi stain could spread to other parties, including the SPD. There are charges that as many as 40 of the 400 new deputies may have been in the service of the secret police. If any of these men are forced to resign as a result of their past activities, warns Manfred Stolpe, a top East German churchman, "this would be a terrible blow for our young democracy...