SPD congress to consider fresh talks with Merkel on new coalition

Berlin (dpa) - Germany‘s Social Democrats (SPD) hold a conference opening Thursday to consider a call from the centre-left party‘s leadership to launch talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel so to end the nation‘s political gridlock following September‘s election.SPD leader Martin Schulz attempted on Wednesday to rally his party behind the talks with members torn between backing Merkel for a fourth term in power or going into opposition to regroup after suffering its worst result since 1949 at the September poll."The SPD can be proud of what it has done in this government," said Schulz after the party spent the last four years as the junior member of a coalition led by Merkel‘s Christian Democrats and their Bavarian-based Christian Social Union (CSU) allies, and ahead of what is likely to be a stormy party congress.The three-day conference is also likely to represent a key test of Schulz‘s authority in the party with members to vote on his performance as party president after he led the SPD into the election trauma and was then forced into an embarrassing retreat on building a new alliance with Merkel.In addition to rejoining a Merkel-led coalition, the SPD congress is also set to consider whether the party might agree to another way of backing the chancellor in office either by tolerating a CDU-CSU government in parliament or supporting a minority government headed by the chancellor.But underlining the opposition in the SPD‘s ranks to teaming up with Merkel in a new coalition, the party‘s youth wing, Jusos has also proposed a motion calling on the conference to rule out a rerun of the current alliance with the CDU-CSU.