For about four hours, the heads of the Union and the SPD negotiated on Tuesday evening in the coalition committee in Berlin, in the end they agreed, among other things, on improvements in the working conditions of parcel deliverers .
Large parcel services are to be obligated to pay social security contributions for their defaulting subcontractors. For this purpose, small and medium-sized companies should be relieved elsewhere, as Union and SPD announced. "Thus, the coalition ensures contribution reliability, the social security of all parcel delivery companies and at the same time for a fair competition."
Many parcel services do not work with permanent employees, but with subcontractors who often pay no social contributions for their often foreign drivers, in addition to a low salary. In particular, the SPD had insisted on subcontractor liability in order to improve working conditions in the parcel sector and to complicate cheats in the payment of social security contributions for workers.
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In addition, the GroKo wants to launch a so-called Bureaucracy Relief Act (BEG III), which "brings tangible relief for the economy, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, of at least one billion euros and further relief for citizens and administration," as it in the final declaration is called. Details did not mention the coalition initially. The specialized ministers involved should speak to each other at short notice.
One and a half weeks before the European elections, both sides had gone to their peak meeting with clear differences. However, the declaration does not say a word about the controversial issues within the coalition: neither on the basic pension, the heart project of the SPD; nor the abolition of the solidarity surcharge demanded by the Union (read more here).
In addition to Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), Chancellor Merkel also had CDU chief Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, SPD leader Andrea Nahles and CSU leader Markus Söder sitting at the table. Union faction leader Ralph Brinkhaus (CDU) and CSU country group chief Alexander Dobrindt and Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) also participated in the coalition committee.
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The talks at the Chancellor's Office were not only about domestic politics, but also about the situation in the Near and Middle East . The coalition claims to insist on a political solution to the conflict over the nuclear deal with Iran. Together they set themselves "determined that the Iran conflict despite serious differences among the conflict parties peacefully and diplomatically," says a joint statement by the CDU, CSU and SPD.
One year after the United States' exit from the tediously negotiated nuclear deal with Iran, Tehran also announced a week ago that it no longer wanted to stick to individual agreements. Fears are growing that, if the agreement fails, the war between the US and Iran could come to fruition.
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