The Spd's Mistake
After having ruled with Gerhard Schröder from 1998 to 2005, the German Social Democrats were a minority partner in two Grand Coalitions led by Angela Merkel from 2005 to 2009 and from 2013 to 2017. Excluding the parenthesis from 2009 to 2013 then, the SPD has been governing Germany almost continuously since 1998. They also achieved one of the most ambitious social reforms in the history of the German Federal Republic , the Agenda 2010. Since the late 1990s, Germany has become more modern and more open, economically stronger, appreciated in Europe and around the world. German culture and language have even become fashionable. The paradox of the German Social Democrats is that they continue not to enjoy the political dividends of this extraordinary international brand named 'Germany'.