SPD

The Social Democratic Party or SPD is a left-center party in Germany. From 2005 to 2009 it formed a "grand coalition government" (a coalition between the two largest parties) with the rival CDU. In the German elections in 2009, the SPD suffered a historical loss of 9,2 % of the vote, reaching only 23 % in total. This gave the CDU (which reached 33,8% combined with its sister-party CSU) the possibility to form a conservative coalition with the 'Liberal Democratic Party of Germany', the FDP.

Current leader of the SPD is Sigmar Gabriel, succeeding Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who had been vice chancellor and minister of foreign affairs during the grand coalition.

History

Cold War

The SPD approached the problems of German reunification and the establishment of a European Defense Community (EDC) on the assumption of the possibility of peaceful coexistence between the USSR and the Western powers. The SPD objected to the EDC, preferring to find an answer to the problem of security through the UN. According to the SPD, the EDC would give the Soviet Union an excuse for blocking German reunification. The SPD feared that the policies of Robert Schuman in France and of Germany's Konrad Adenauer would result in the domination of Europe by Catholics and conservatives, and therefore the SPD sided with Pierre Mendès-France, the French premier, on the question of Western military integration, while continuing to give priority to German reunification.