Merkel ‘partner’ vows to fight back after ballot blow

Bloomberg

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s junior coalition partner vowed to shake things up in the government but stopped short of threatening to immediately pull out of the alliance after Germany’s Social Democrats suffered a double blow at the polls.
SPD leaders pleaded for patience as they analyse the results of the elections, which saw them drop to third behind the Greens in the vote for European Parliament and lose the race in the city-state of Bremen for the first time since World War II.
The party will now look toward a mid-term review and fall elections in Eastern German states to assess its role in government.
“The grand coalition will only have a future,” if it implements policies for the climate, working families and retirees, Ralf Stegner, the party’s deputy leader, said in an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio. “Maybe we need to fight a bit more rather than just work internally.”