Gee, apparently Schroeder's opposition to America's invasion of Iraq wasn't very popular in Germany!
Posted on 06/13/2004 2:26:14 PM PDT by Michael81Dus
Germany's initial election results are in following a day of voting in the European parliamentary elections. The CDU will remain as Germany's strongest party in the European parliament. Currently, the party stands at just over 45.5 percent. The Social Democrats are currently at around 22 percent. The Greens currently have 11 percent, which is their best-ever result. They've called themselves the winners of the European elections. Meanwhile, the Party of Democratic Socialism, the PDS and the Free Democrats, the FDP, are expected to clear the 5 percent electoral hurdle. All in all, citizens from 19 European Union countries, including France, Germany and Poland went to the polls Sunday.
In the state election of Thuringia, Schröders party got a 14% hit - behind the 26% Communists (PDS) and the CDU (45%, absolute majority).
Ping.
BILD (Europe´s most-read newspaper) comments: Schröder´s getting trouble in record speed, he´s the Chancellor of records...
... in unemployment, debts, dismissal of Ministers (12 within 6 years), economic non-growth...
Man (!): why can this guy just move out of the Chancellery and announce re-elections?
He's got to face the music methinks... he is not competent to lead a nation.
Well, it´s also a lazyness regarding Europe (low participation). People don´t trust Schröder, they don´t think he´s competent.
The new future Chancellor will be Dr. Angela Merkel, CDU.
By the way, the Conservatives have won the EU elections (245-270 seats of 732), Socialists (200 seats), Liberals (60-70), Greens (40-50). The rest will be smaller parties who can help the Cons and Libs to control the parliament.
Canada looks like they'll toss the Liberals out later this month, but I don't think their present conservative party is as good as Mulroney was.
The UK political situation is Blair, Blair, Blair. He's not well liked really, from both the left and right, but there's no one else. It looks like the Dutch conservative party is also having some issues as of late.
And Spain just tossed out the right leaning party after terrorists attacked their country.
In other words, even after the latest round of elections, don't count on Western Europe to lend us a great deal of support. Poland will be with us of course. And the other Eastern European countries may recognize the necessity to fight for what you believe in. But in most of Western Europe, don't expect much. The UK and maybe one or two small countries at certain points.
Hey Koblenz, how can someone with a German city nickname be so uninformed about the CDU? We were supporting the war against Iraq, that´s what chairwoman Dr. Merkel has made clear all the time. The mood between her and Bush will be a lot better than with Schröder.
The positive here is, that the foreign policy of Schröder (G8, D-Day) didn´t help him at home.
LOL, nice math work, but actually in Thuringia the participation was at ca. 53%. Still, a very bad result for the Socialists.
Gee, apparently Schroeder's opposition to America's invasion of Iraq wasn't very popular in Germany!
Interesting. Thanks.
Europolitics is rarely simple (particularly for those of us on the west side of the Atlantic). My instinctive tendency is to root for the more conservative party, or at least for the party which is named as such. But certainly the Iraq war has added a complicating layer.
Do we support the Tories in England, who (with exceptions) have been against the war? Or do we support Labour, bearing in mind that Mr. Blair has been a great friend of ours on the Iraq front? It could be argued that today's Labour is less socialistic than the Labour Party of years past, but is "Socialist Lite" good enough?
In France, as you note, Chirac's party was the more conservative of the mainline parties; we'd best stick with him, because the French leftist party is truly alarming, much more so than British Labour ever was, even in its worst days.
Germany, it seems to me, is less complicated. Herr Schröder is head of the more liberal of the mainline parties, and he's against the Iraq war. Easy choice to support the CDU. Of course, if the CDU prevails in the next national elections, it will probably be for the "wrong reasons."
Conservative = euroskeptic, or is there a different calculation for euroskeptics?
Thuringia is also the locale of the city of Weimar, and therefore my dog's ancestral home. He's happy with the results:
I agree with your consensus.
longjack
Oooh... pretty doggie :) I'm sure my late dog Jake is smiling down from Doggie Heaven (being a German Shepherd and all)
My hubby loves Weimaraners and wants to get one. Is it true they bark a lot?
My hubby loves Weimaraners and wants to get one. Is it true they bark a lot?
Confronted with a problem they can't do anything about, yes, they'll bark. For example, if Atlas is inside, and he sees a person, a squirrel, a cat, a rabbit, or most importantly, one of his dog buds outside, he will most definitely alert me to the fact vociferously. Outside, his behavior is markedly different; he'll stalk and/or chase a squirrel, cat, or rabbit, but will greet a dog or a person, even a stranger, in a quiet and friendly manner.
Do you have a link for that ?
Can you say "Bundeskanzlerin Merkel"???
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