Posted on 12/11/2002 1:04:55 AM PST by MadIvan
Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has engaged in a furious argument with his own party chiefs, demanding that they pull his Social Democrat party together to shore up his dented personal authority.
Oh to be a fly on the wall of that meeting, "You must all love me! Now! I am your Fuhrer!" - Ivan
In what opponents will see as a sign of fraying nerves, Mr Schröder was reported to have erupted at a meeting of the executive committee of the party on Monday night, attacking those straying from the party line and asserting: "It was not the SPD that won the general election. I won it."
Several newspaper reports based on information given by party members after the meeting said he criticised leading colleagues, including Franz Münterfering, the party whip, and challenged dissenters with the words: "If anyone thinks they can do it better, they should do it."
The comment was later confirmed by Wolfgang Clement, the economics minister.
Mr Schröder's words were interpreted by some newspapers as a threat to resign, although that was strenuously denied yesterday by Olaf Scholz, the SPD general secretary. He did admit that there were some "critical individual voices" within the party leadership and that the top ranks were agreed that the situation was serious.
Mr Schröder has had a dreadful few weeks. Having squeaked back into office following September's elections, his ratings have plunged in the polls after he broke promises not to raise taxes.
That prompted a spontaneous revolt by thousands of taxpayers who sent their "last shirts" to the chancellor.
Meanwhile, the economy is on the verge of recession, unemployment remains stubbornly high and a song lampooning Mr Schröder reached number one.
Mr Clement, who is deputy party leader, said: "The fun has to stop at some point", and added that the chancellor had made the point, "clearly, unmistakably, very quietly and without raising his voice", and that those present had taken the message "very seriously".
But Mr Schröder's authority within the party appears to be waning, with criticism increasingly coming in public from senior members of his own party and some regional politicians ignoring his explicit opposition to a re-introduction of a wealth tax.
Yesterday Sigmar Gabriel, Social Democrat premier of Lower Saxony, Mr Schröder's home state, confirmed his commitment to the wealth tax, announcing that he would introduce a Bill to the upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat, in January.
This puts the topic, which is a regional rather than federal matter, firmly on the agenda of the state election campaign, one of two SPD-governed states which will go to the polls in early February.
A defeat in Lower Saxony would be an embarrassment for Mr Schröder and threaten the government's slim majority in the Bundesrat. That could allow the opposition to block the government programme.
Further pressure from within the SPD was also exerted yesterday by the Schleswig Holstein state premier Heide Simonis, who contradicted Mr Schröder's personal promise not to reduce pension payments and called for less to be given to wealthier pensioners.
Meanwhile his supposed allies among the trade unions are also in a thunderous mood.
Yesterday many public services across the country were affected by strikes supported by the country's largest union, whose members are demanding a three per cent wage increase.
Bus and rubbish collection services were hit in many states a day before a further round of negotiations were due between the union, employers and the government. Dissent is also growing among Mr Schröder's Green Party coalition allies.
Regards, Ivan
Regards,
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