Jo McKenna: Europe Correspondent on the infighting and shaky ground of Germany's coalition government

Germany's coalition government is on shaky ground.  

The country’s struggling economy has sparked infighting between the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens, and the Free Democratic Party (FDP), with the coalition on the brink of collapse.  

Europe Correspondent Jo McKenna told Mike Hosking the three coalition parties have been holding emergency talks to try to bridge policy divisions. 

She says the Free Democratic Party's policy of tax cuts have been particularly unpopular. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right.

Speaker 2 (00:00):
Oh, and Italy. Joe McKenna A very good morning to you.
Good money mate, bonus edition of Joe McKenna this week.
We're very excited manufacturing in Italy. So you're down, down, down.
What happened to all the Ferraris and the Dultaan and
Gabbana Cruz Wheer. I mean, for goodness sake, what are
you doing?

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Look there might still be a little bit of that
going on, but overall the Italian manufacturing activity is quite disappointing.
Contracted for the seventh consecutive month in October. That's not
good news for the Eurozone's third largest economy, and it's
bad news for the Maloney government, as the National Statistics
Bureau Is said last month that Italian GDP had stagnated

(00:36):
in the third quarter compared to the previous three months.
I don't think this government is going to reach its
economic forecasts, expected to be one percent this year, and
we're seeing some downward revisions from the Economy Minister John
Carloge or Jetty as well. Well.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
It could be like us in going backwards. So I
suppose growth is does it feel bleak?

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Though?

Speaker 2 (00:57):
If you ask one hundred people on the streets does
it feel bleak?

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Look, it's very uneven, and it's always very hard to
tell in Rome because Rome is so buoyant with a
constant flow of tourism and the hospitality industry seems to
be booming. But I think more broadly, I think there
is a great deal of concern about the state of
the economy and manufacturing and industrial production.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Do tell me, because it was the first thing I
read in the very early hours of this morning that
the government, government, gym and government's on the brink of collapse.
How real is that? And how worried does the EU
given the size, power, influence and history of Germany. How
angsty do you get about that stuff?

Speaker 1 (01:33):
Well? I was thinking about it today, Mike. I mean
the absence, for example, of Chancellor Angelo Merkel, I think
is still being felt in Europe. She was such a
strong presence and really put the EU on the map,
particularly dealing with issues across the Atlantic. Now this government
is looking increasingly shaky. There's plenty of infighting, political paralysis,

(01:55):
and a faltering economy, But the main issue is that
we have a coalition of three different parts. He's pulling
in different directions with different solutions to the economic situation,
and in particular the Free Democratic Party, which is one
of the coalition members, has published a policy paper that
is quite controversial, talking about tax cuts and other sorts

(02:16):
of things that the government doesn't seem to agree with.
So there are all sorts of emergency talks going on
at the moment to try and hold it together.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
Unreal. Of course, it was the migrants that brought Merkle down,
and you've got your own still years later, this migrant problem,
so Albania is on, despite what we've been talking about
for the last few weeks and all the court.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
Action exactly, the Prime Minister, Georgia Maloney is adamant she's
going to push ahead sending more migrants to Albania. We're
likely to see another shipment of migrants in the Mediterranean
tomorrow heading to those offshore migrant centers because some have
been picked up today. But she's got another legal headache.

(02:55):
The judges still seem to be pushing back, sitting their
own agenda. Sillian judge today scratch the detention of an
Egyptian asylum seeker, even though he hails from a country
that the Italian government says is safe for repatriation.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Do you have a court do you have a court issue?
I mean, are those courts broadly seen as interventionist?

Speaker 1 (03:18):
Well, the government certainly sees it as a rival political power.
And we've already seen comments tonight from Matteo Slovini, the
Far League leader deputy prime minister, saying, you know, he's
had enough of the judges interfering with government policy.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
All right, I must sketch up with you see your Thursday.
Joe mckinner out of Italy filling in for Catherine Field
for us this morning.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
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