Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1998 06:10:03 -0700 (PDT)
From: MichaelP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "unlikely.suspects": ;
Subject: Welcome to new Germany
Germany embraces the rebels of 1968
The Green leader is a self-educated former taxi driver. He's set to
become the foreign minister. An old-fashioned class warrior is
favourite for the post of finance minister. Welcome to the New
Germany. Denis Staunton in Berlin
Guardian (london) Sunday October 4, 1998
One of the first people to congratulate Germany's Chancellor-elect,
Gerhard Schroder, after his spectacular election victory last Sunday
was Hans-Olaf Henkel, head of the German Federation of Industry (BDI).
Many were taken aback by Henkel's eagerness to shake the hand of the
man he had spent the previous month condemning as a menace to the
country but Schroder was not surprised.
"The representatives of business - despite their closeness to the
Christian Democrats and Free Democrats - are people who realise that
they, too, must work with every democratically-led government," he
said.
Germany's establishment has had a tough time since last weekend,
coming to terms with the reality of life under a government committed
to social justice, environmental responsibility and greater personal
freedom.
At least three German ambassadors have threatened to quit rather than
work under Joschka Fischer, the Green leader almost certain to become
the next Foreign Minister.
But others at the Ministry admire Fischer's foreign policy expertise
and some are actually looking forward to his appointment as a certain
improvement on the dull Klaus Kinkel.
"The desire for somebody we can be proud of, whose speeches in the
Bundestag we would secretly applaud, is great," says one diplomat.
A self-educated butcher's son and former taxi driver, Fischer is one
of Germany's most popular politicians, respected by opponents such as
Helmut Kohl and former Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher. For
many, he is the acceptable face of the Greens, a man who talks sense
about the need to make development ecologically sustainable and to
make Germany a more open, liberal society.
The collapse of his marriage two years ago prompted Fischer to undergo
a personal process of reform, giving up alcohol and transforming
himself from one of Germany's portliest politicians into today's
slender ascetic. Now he wants to reform Germany and to put into
practice many of the principles that brought young Germans on to the
streets in 1968. The Greens are realistic about what they can expect
as junior partners in a Social Democrat-led government but they are
determined to be Schroder's conscience and to stop him from drifting
too far to the right.
Schroder attempted to reassure employers last week by reaffirming his
intention to include in his Cabinet Jost Stollmann, a self-made
millionaire who does not belong to any political party. Stollmann
wants to revolutionise the German economy by copying the American
model but he is likely to be an isolated voice in the Cabinet.
What business leaders fear most is the influence of the Social
Democrats' party chairman, Oskar Lafontaine, who is almost certain to
become Finance Minister.
Lafontaine speaks the language of an old-fashioned class warrior,
denouncing business fat cats who demand ever greater sacrifices from
those on low incomes. But he is a sophisticated thinker on economic
matters with a clear view of the state's role in regulating a market
economy.
Last week he demanded that monetary policy should be used to encourage
job creation as well as to keep down inflation. This heresy against
the Bundesbank dogma that places currency and price stability above
all other goals has profound implications for the future of the
European Central Bank.
Germany will now almost certainly drop its objection to a French
proposal that economic Ministers should accompany ECB representatives
to International Monetary Fund and G7 meetings. Lafontaine believes
that political influence over the ECB is not only admissible but
essential. So it is scarcely surprising that Paris has given such a
warm welcome to the new German government.
Lafontaine has called for a cut in German interest rates to take
account of lowered expectations of growth for next year and he wants
to see the euro, the dollar and the yen linked in an international
currency system.
None of this sits easily with the Bundesbank president, Hans
Tietmeyer, who will be replaced by a Social Democrat nominee when he
steps down next year. The departure of Kohl also robs ECB president
Wim Duisemberg of his strongest supporter and could make it difficult
for the austere Dutchman to push through his uncompromising policy of
stability first.
The Greens will not be given any key economic Ministry and some of
their wilder proposals will be vetoed by the dominant Social
Democrats. But, with Lafontaine in the Finance Ministry, a trade union
leader as Labour Minister and a government programme committed to
putting employees first, business is preparing for a bumpy ride.
Perhaps the biggest challenge facing Schroder is that of completing
the process of national unification that Kohl began almost a decade
ago. The collapse of the Christian Democratic vote in the east and the
success of the ex-Communist Party of Democratic Socialism last week
highlighted the lingering sense of alienation easterners feel.
Unemployment is twice as high in the east as in the west and 80 per
cent of easterners say they feel like second-class citizens within the
new Germany.
Schroder knows he owes much of his landslide victory to eastern votes
and that, unlike their western counterparts, eastern voters change
sides with ease.
It is likely that his government, which will move to Berlin next year,
will include a generous number of eastern Ministers and will
concentrate energy and resources on bringing prosperity to the east.
The most dramatic change the new government will bring is likely to be
one of mood, making Germany a more generous, open and liberal society.
The values of the 1968 generation may make themselves felt in the
private sphere, so that Germany could join the Scandinavian countries
in taking energetic steps to give women an equal chance in society and
ending discrimination against same-sex couples.
But the fundamental test of the new government will be its success in
cutting unemployment and nurturing Germany's economic recovery.
If it succeeds, the Centre Left can expect to set the tone in German
politics well into the next century. If it fails, last week's gloom in
conservative ranks could prove short-lived as the Right regroups
around a new standard-bearer, such as the populist, xenophobic Prime
Minister of Bavaria, Edmund Stoiber.
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