Franz Muentefering Quotations

None of us were prepared for a grand coalition. There was quite a lot to get over, and that's what we did in the past few weeks.

Money is short and it's clear that milk and honey will not flow, but there will still be healthy bread and decent jam,

Naturally, this was not easy for us, but we see the need to do something here.

It is clear that Germans do not want Mrs. Merkel as their chancellor.

It is possible that we can still do it, that Gerhard Schroeder can be chancellor again.

We don't dispute that unified parliamentary groups can exist, but it must be clear that coalition talks are conducted by individual parties.

We are ready to begin full talks for a grand coalition.

We still have a lot of important issues to discuss. In healthcare there is no middle ground between our positions.

We are confident that we will be able to win people over with Gerhard Schroeder at the helm,

We are going into this debate with the political claim to implement as much as possible of our manifesto and to ensure that Gerhard Schroeder remains the chancellor of Germany.

We have seven more minutes to score two goals. Talking about who will shower with whom after the game or who will play next time is nonsense.

We will include the fact that we consider that to be the likely target age in our agreement on a coalition government.

Under these conditions I cannot remain party chairman.

We will only agree to other tax increases in the talks if people with higher incomes are taxed more heavily.

Two and a half weeks is a good amount of time to get a lot of things moving.

We focused on issues, but made it clear that we in the SPD want to govern this nation with Gerhard Schroeder as chancellor.

We will talk to all the parties, with the exception of the Left Party.

Everything that is recognized as a problem will be taken seriously and handled as such.

a stable government for this country, as quickly as possible. A government led by Gerhard Schroeder.

Compromises had to be made, including the division of the ministries. I think we come out of this initial round of talks looking very successful.

They are starting to panic. They're seeing that the voters are turning away from Merkel.

The message was clear: This country does not want Mrs. Merkel as chancellor.

If one makes demands of the country, those whose bank accounts are stronger must also contribute their fair share.

In three weeks the government will be stable.

I can no longer be party chairman under these conditions. I left my decision open as to whether I will belong to the cabinet after the next party congress.

Grand coalitions carry risks, ... When they don't work convincingly they can strengthen parties on the fringes.