Regards, Ivan
Posted on 10/02/2005 1:47:26 AM PDT by MadIvan
PREOCCUPIED with running his internet cafe in the historic German city of Dresden, Ingo Nessman does not usually take much interest in politics. But today he will relish the chance of punishing Gerhard Schröder in a vote that could finally loosen the chancellor’s grip on power after two weeks of post-election stalemate.
“I’ve had it up to here with this election,” said Nessman, wiping down his stainless steel bar. “His behaviour is abysmal and I hope he doesn’t make it.”
Tito Gärtner, 35, shopping near the city’s cathedral, did not have any time for the chancellor either. “I hope we give him a bloody nose,” he said. “I can’t stand him any more.”
Dresden’s 219,000 voters are casting their ballots a fortnight after the rest of Germany because of the death of a local candidate. The result will not automatically end Germany’s most protracted political crisis since the second world war. But there are growing signs that with the election completed, Schröder — who won 450,000 fewer voters than Angela Merkel, his challenger, in the September 18 poll — will finally concede defeat during manoeuvring to form a coalition between their parties.
The chancellor put on a predictable show of defiance at a last rally for his supporters from the Social Democratic party (SPD). “I would like to finish what we began at the head of a new government,” he declared to cheering crowds. He denounced Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) as “not fit” to lead Germany.
Speaking at her own rally a few streets away, Merkel was equally uncompromising. “Germany needs new policies — and these can only be policies that the CDU has a significant hand in forming,” she said. “When the polling stations close in Dresden, I am certain that the chancellor will gradually see that too.”
Despite the apparent deadlock, Schröder has been softening his position since election night when he tried to present his narrow defeat as a victory, declaring: “It’s clear that nobody apart from me is in a position to form a stable government.”
Even his wife Doris admitted that his performance was “rowdy”, while the German media have compared his reluctance to step down gracefully with that of Julius Caesar.
By last week Schröder was saying that he would do “everything” possible to ensure that his SPD formed a grand coalition with the CDU, a remark widely interpreted as meaning that he would be prepared to resign. During a second round of talks with Merkel he also reportedly remained silent when she reiterated her demand to be chancellor.
The precise timing of his anticipated climbdown remains uncertain. One German newspaper claimed that Schröder, who came to power in 1998, might leave as early as tomorrow — the Day of German Unity when the country celebrates its reunification after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
The report was rejected as “total nonsense” by a government spokesman, but analysts said that Schröder may step down later in the week so that coalition talks can begin in earnest. The next round of discussions between the two sides is set for Wednesday.
“He’s trying to drive up the price in terms of policy concessions and cabinet posts,” said Frank Decker, a political scientist at Bonn University. “The way he behaved on election night didn’t look especially calculated and now the priority is to retreat without losing face.”
Speculation is growing about the make-up of the new administration. With Schröder almost certain to leave rather than serve under Merkel, the post of vice-chancellor is expected to go either to Franz Müntefering, the SPD chairman, or to Peer Steinbrück, former state premier of North-Rhine Westfalia.
Merkel’s team is expected to include Edmund Stoiber, the acerbic Bavarian president who ran unsuccessfully against Schröder in the 2002 election, and Wolfgang Schäuble, a veteran former CDU leader confined to a wheelchair since he was paralysed in an assassination attempt in 1990.
While German newspapers continue to devote acres of space to the crisis, many ordinary Germans — especially in Dresden — seem heartily sick of it. “Schröder and Merkel have been behaving like Punch and Judy,” complained one elderly man. “I don’t care who takes power as long as they sit down and agree on something.”
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
Merkels do happen.
I agree.
The arrogance of this weasel is staggering. And guys like him call Bush arrogant? Here's hoping that this demagogue gets thrown out on his arsch.
Hey Ivan, were you gone for awhile or did I just miss your posts?
If you were gone, I'm glad to see you back!
I hope Baader-Meinhof Generation is gone from German politics starting with Schroeder. The generation of deluded narcissists.
Takes me back.
He wants to make sure the people suffer a little longer before he gets off the stage.
We use to have a bipolar party system, with the CDU/CSU on the one side and the SPD on the other and some small parties aside. It´s the first time in our post-war history, that none of the two blocs has a majority in parliament. Repeat: the first time! Nobody wants to play with the Commies, so they´re out. It looks like we´ll get a coalition of CDU/CSU and the SPD, and it won´t last longer than 2 years. The difference between our system and the Weimar system is, that only parties with more than 5% are represented in parliament and that a Chancellor needs a majority in parliament (and not only an appointment by the President). This has brought us stability for 56 years, while the Weimar Republic lasted not as long as the government of Helmut Kohl (Chancellor between 1982 and 1998).
By no means do I claim the American system is perfect, but at least it gives us more flexibility and prevemnts the executive branch from acting by fiat. The separation of powers between the branches also acts as a moderator ptreventing radical policies which are often the resuklt of momentary passions from being put into place too hastily. Europe is in the morass that it is precisely because governments have no moderating mechanism to stop the implementation of destructive policies.
There are also other differences that differentiate our system as well, but I will leave those for another time.
Good, good. Everything is transpiring as I have forseen it.
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