A recent editorial in the Daily Telegraph urged Germany’s re – elected Chancellor, Angela Merkel to “dare to be radical” and if by that they meant dare to be neoliberal then they are barking up the wrong tree.
Merkel has already declared that despite governing in a coalition with more natural political partners in the form of the Free Democratic Party she will govern from the centre. Indeed, as an editorial in the times suggested,
“Her victory gives Ms Merkel added authority in Europe and within the Atlantic Alliance. That is unlikely to change her low-key style or her preference for government by consensus. But her strong mandate and Germany’s steady emergence from recession will ensure that her views carry greater weight in both Paris and Washington, Berlin’s two key alliance partners.”
The Free Democratic Party were the big winners on the night, increasing their vote and returning to Government but there will be a lot of soul searching for one half of ‘the union’ after the CSU recorded their worst electoral performance in Bavaria in the party’s history.
However, the biggest headache in Germany belongs not to Merkel or the CSU, nor the revellers celebrating the end of Oktoberfest in Bavaria but to the SPD who have suffered their worst defeat since the formation of the Federal Republic of Germany – an electoral decline of just over 11 percentage points. Not only did the SDP face the problem of defending their grand coalition with the CDU/CSU to the voters but they have also faced a huge challenge to their vote from both ‘die linke’ and the greens.
One interesting thing to arise from the election results is the emergence of a genuinely competitive 5 party system in Germany between the CDU/CSU, FDP, SPD, Greens and die linke.
But the future belongs to Merkel, the daughter of a Lutheran Pastor, who has the opportunity to reassert German influence in Brussels, Paris and Washington and to steer a sound economic course for Germany in the years ahead. It’s back to the future for Merkel. A CSU/CDU coalition with the FDP is nothing new for German politics after Helmut Kohl’s 16 years in power with them.
dividedloyalties
Posted on October 2, 2009
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