Posted on 04/10/2006 9:27:06 AM PDT by Michael81Dus
BERLIN, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The chairman of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD), Matthias Platzeck, resigned Monday for health reasons after only five months in office, proposing that his deputy Kurt Beck replace him.
"I overestimated my physical capabilities," said Platzeck at a news conference. He is also state premier of Brandenburg and party leader in that state.
He was elected chairman of the SPD in November 2005 to replace Franz Muenterfering, who is the deputy chancellor and labor minister of the grand coalition government formed by his party and the Christian Democrats Union headed by Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Platzeck, 52, said he had suffered circulation problems and had twice been diagnosed with sudden sensorineural hearing loss, an illness connected with stress.
"In the past days I had to come to the toughest decision in my life, which was to follow my doctors' urgent advice to step down from my position as the leader of the Social Democratic Party in Germany," Platzeck said.
He was discharged from hospital last Wednesday after undergoing a week of treatment for sudden hearing loss. The announcement coincided with an opinion poll published in the magazine Stern, indicating the SPD was enjoying the lowest approval rating this year.
Beck, state premier of Rhineland-Palatinate, pledged to ensure the smooth continuation of the SPD's "grand coalition" with Merkel's conservatives.
"I am absolutely for continuity in our work in the grand coalition," Beck said, adding that Merkel had been informed of the decision in advance. Enditem
So your happy that first class personalities in germany are declining by failing health ?
Gimme a break. I don't vote for them but we should burry them otherwise.
lol damn ... I meant 'in an other way' ...
I don't know what it is that makes those Social Democrats so absolutely disgusting. It's not just that they're leftists. Other leftists from the Green Party or the various communist parties are equally or even more insane, but for some reason many of them are not as awful and repulsive as the Social Democrats. So smug; so arrogant; so uneducated; so phony; so vulgar; so distasteful; so ignorant; so stupid; so plump; so greasy; so fat; so...uncouth! And that's just the women! It wasn't always this way, either. Willy Brandt and, of course, Helmut Schmidt were likeable guys. But today's generation of Sozis? *shudder*
I have respect for his decision, and I wish nobody illness, at least not in democratic countries (now if we´d talk about the Iranian President or the Palestinian ´government´...). But I take satisfaction in seeing that the opponent is weakened. This will not affect the politics of the Grand Coalition, but surely the SPD will have a problem to defeat the Chancellor in 2009. So, yes, I welcome Platzeck´s step.
There a quite a few respectable Social Dems, I figured out since we´re in one government. Finance Minister Steinbrück revealed he´d never thought of Christian Democrats singing "for he´s a jolly good fellow" on his birthday - but it happened. Or Minister Müntefering - I had the lowest opinion of him before the election, but afterwards he turned out to deal pretty good with reality. Also Foreign Minister Steinmeier is a respectable person... at least for now. I think he still has some "corpses in the basement" from his days in the Chancellery, though.
make an "are" out of "a", lol
Yeah, I've noticed that the red socialists and the Jesus socialists seem to get along just fine. Makes me doubly glad that I didn't vote for either of them ;-\
So I´m a "Jesus socialist"? Thanks, and always keep in mind that it could be the guy next to you you´re insulting.
Oh, and tell Mr Merz that if he can't stand it anymore, he'll always be welcome in the FDP ;-)
At least Platzeck was a former democracy activist in the east, and he would be more cautious against Russian or (Communist) Chinese charm offensives. Beck is a western social democrat through and through: does he understand social welfare doesn't work in helping those in need?
This is bad news in the short term for Merkel. If this forces an early election then it may be the best news for the CDU since slice bread was invented.
Beck might be a populist, but he isn't as nasty as Schroeder by far. And although he's a socialist, he's also somewhat more realistic than many of his party colleagues. As prime minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, he led a coalition with the Free Democrats/Liberals (I don't think many here need the reminder but just in case: Liberals here refers to classical liberalism: In Europe the term liberal refers to what Americans call libertarian, i.e.: small government/capitalism/civil rights) instead of the radically left-wing Green party. And he actually wasn't too happy when his own SPD won an absolute majority a few weeks ago. He would have preferred to continue the coalition, because now he has noone left to blame for the inevitable "hard decisions", i.e. somewhat market-oriented reforms. Plus: As prime minister of the state with the largest U.S. army bases in Germany, he didn't subscribe to Schroeder's anti-american propaganda in the federal election campaigns.
Does that mean I would vote for him? Definitely not. The Social Democrats' ideas are poisonous for the economy and Beck doesn't really have the intellectual capacity of Helmut Schmidt or Angela Merkel (not that Kohl ever was an intellectual). But he's neither as hypocritical as Schroeder nor as creepy and downright evil as Oskar Lafontaine.
As far as socialists go, he belongs to the "smaller of two evils"-faction, just like Steinbrück or Clement.
In that case Beck wouldn't be too bad then. I didn't know if he would be a hardcore socialist in the anti-capitalist mold (which was formally repudiated in Godesberg Program).
My personal political leaning is more like the European liberal model plus some Christian morality, in other words, similar to a lot of American conservatives. Some parts of the CDU have too much Catholic social doctrine's influence which made them socialists in Jesus' name.
I reckon there are social democrats that can forget their agenda and work constructively on projects under the leadership of Angela Merkel - I don't think we have to bad leadership and government in the moment.
Platzek was one of those who could fit in under a CDU reigned Government - he was no Claudia Roth.
I regret he's gone although he was an opponent.
I am glad you made these exceptions - but I would not talk about all the rest as if they where Claudia Roth. Remember - it could be worse :) (Oh yes it could)
As you say - I think socialism is now a trademark of the 'Links Partei' - Social Dems had to immitate CDU politics the last 4 years - only that they where unable to copy the concepts correctly.
They are not bad as a coalition partner - I wounder if the 'Free Market - Party' FDP (my favourite) would have enough power to contribute to a government without beeing plowed under. It's quite amazing how this big coalition works, I wouldn't have thought.
Plus I think the traditional SPD voters can be convinced of the necessary social reforms more efficiently if they have some guys of their own in the government. We don't have a national consciousness as strong as the US so it may be a benefit to have integrative personalities for the existing opinions (o course not for EVERY existing opinion)
Hey US - just have some more Parties - two is boring. ;-)
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