Tag Archives: Peer Steinbrueck

News, Politics, Government

US surveillance becomes election issue in Germany

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Allegations of widespread U.S. data surveillance have created turbulence for Angela Merkel on what looked like a smooth cruise to a third term as German chancellor, even though it remains to be seen whether the flap will threaten her seriously.

Merkel’s center-left opponents have seized on disclosures of National Security Agency surveillance programs by leaker Edward Snowden to assert that she hasn’t been doing enough to confront Washington and protect Germans’ personal data — and to cast doubt on officials’ assertions that they didn’t know of the programs.

The opposition apparently hopes that the issue will breathe life into a so-far stumbling and gaffe-prone campaign for Sept. 22 parliamentary elections. A healthy economy, low unemployment and perceptions that Merkel has managed Europe’s debt crisis well have bolstered the chancellor.

Merkel’s center-left challenger, Peer Steinbrueck, is suggesting that the government turned a blind eye to violations of Germans’ rights and that Merkel violated her oath of office, in which she swore to “keep damage from” her people.

The government, opposition Green party leader Juergen Trittin said, is acting “like the famous three monkeys: hear no evil, speak no evil and definitely see no evil.”

His party called for Germany to take in Snowden. Merkel’s government, like many others, rejected his asylum request.

Protecting personal data is generally a more sensitive issue in Europe than in the U.S. — and particularly in Germany, not least because of memories of surveillance and repression by communist East Germany’s secret police, the Stasi, and the Nazis’ Gestapo.

When President Barack Obama visited Berlin June 19, Merkel offered cautious public criticism, saying that a “balance” between national security and data protection must be ensured.

Then, the German weekly Der Spiegel reported that the U.S. bugged European Union offices — prompting officials to say that if true, that would be unacceptable, especially since the Cold War is over. Germany hosted major NSA sites during the Cold War.

Merkel, who grew up in communist East Germany, dispatched her interior minister, Hans-Peter Friedrich, to Washington last week to discuss the spying issue. There, he conferred with Attorney General Eric Holder and had an unscheduled meeting with Vice President Joe Biden.

After those meetings Friday, …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

Merkel risks election-year setback in state vote

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A major state election on Sunday could shake up the campaign for Germany‘s national election later this year, with the center-left opposition hoping for a morale-boosting victory over Chancellor Angela Merkel‘s governing coalition.

Some 6.1 million people are eligible to vote for a new state legislature in Lower Saxony, which occupies a swathe of northwestern Germany. It’s been run for the past decade by a coalition of Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats and the pro-market Free Democrats, the same parties that form the national government.

The vote is a significant electoral test before national parliamentary elections in September, in which Merkel will seek a third four-year term. She and her party are riding high in polls, but the opposition hopes Lower Saxony will show she is vulnerable.

Pre-election polls in the state showed a neck-and-neck race between her coalition and the opposition Social Democrats and Greens, who have been struggling to gain traction nationally.

Much could depend on the performance of Merkel’s allies, the Free Democrats, whose support has eroded badly since they joined her national government in 2009. They’ve failed to win major tax cuts that they once pledged and have taken much of the blame for frequent public bickering in the chancellor’s coalition.

If the Free Democrats fail to win the 5 percent support needed to gain seats in the state legislature Sunday, that could help hand Lower Saxony to the opposition — and prompt the departure of embattled party leader Philipp Roesler, who is also vice chancellor.

The opposition leader in Lower Saxony, Stephan Weil, says a win would “fire up” his Social Democrats and would mean that a center-left German government “will be taken seriously as an option after the national election.”

The incumbent state governor, popular Christian Democrat David McAllister, says that now “is not the time for any experiments.”

Both nationally and in Lower Saxony, Merkel and her party have been bolstered by a relatively robust economy, low unemployment and the chancellor’s hard-nosed handling of Europe‘s debt crisis — criticized in debt-burdened European countries but well-received among German taxpayers.

Merkel has also profited from stumbles by the Social Democrats‘ candidate for chancellor, Peer Steinbrueck, a former finance minister whose personal popularity lags far behind Merkel’s.

Over recent weeks, Steinbrueck has drawn criticism for saying the chancellor earns too little — adding to controversy over his own high earnings from the public-speaking circuit.

That hasn’t helped a campaign which promises to narrow the gap between Germany‘s haves and have-nots.

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

Regional vote to offer clues to Merkel future

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Chancellor Angela Merkel is riding high in polls as she seeks a third term at the head of Europe‘s biggest economy. But a major state election this weekend may lift her center-left rivals’ hopes of defying the odds and ousting Germany‘s leader.

Surveys show Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats leading in the polls in Lower Saxony, where voters choose a new state legislature Sunday. But the chancellor’s party is unlikely to win an outright majority needed to form a new state government without the help of its coalition partners, the pro-market Free Democrats.

And that could spell trouble for Merkel.

The Free Democrats, who are also a part of the national coalition, have been losing so much support they may not win the necessary 5 percent to gain seats in the Lower Saxony legislature, an outcome that could drag the ruling coalition to defeat.

The situation mirrors a vulnerability Merkel herself may face in September when voters nationwide choose a new Parliament, which in turn selects the chancellor.

With six major parties competing for votes, German governments are invariably formed by coalitions. And Merkel’s personal popularity may not be enough to overcome the weakness of the Free Democrats.

That’s why so much attention has been directed at the vote in Lower Saxony, a northwestern region of 8 million people. The Sunday balloting is one of only two significant electoral tests before national parliamentary elections.

Recent polls in Lower Saxony show the Social Democrats and Greens neck-and-neck with Merkel’s party and the Free Democrats. But the most recent surveys show the Free Democrats right on the 5 percent threshold.

A coalition loss in Lower Saxony would be a blow to Merkel and invigorate the center-left opposition of Social Democrats and Greens, who have been struggling to gain traction nationally.

The opposition leader in Lower Saxony, Stephan Weil, says a win would “fire up” his party and would mean that a center-left German government “will be taken seriously as an option after the national election.”

Both nationally and in Lower Saxony, Merkel and her Christian Democrats have been bolstered by a relatively robust economy, low unemployment and the chancellor’s hard-nosed handling of Europe‘s debt crisis — roundly criticized in debt-burdened European countries but which plays well among German taxpayers.

Merkel has made clear that her economic management will be a key plank of her national campaign.

She has also profited from the stumbling performance of the Social Democrats‘ candidate for chancellor, Peer Steinbrueck, the former finance minister whose personal popularity lags far behind Merkel’s.

Over recent weeks, Steinbrueck has drawn criticism for saying the chancellor earns too little — adding to controversy over his own high earnings from the public-speaking circuit.

That has not helped a campaign that promises to narrow the gap between Germany‘s haves and have-nots. The Social Democrats and their allies, the Greens, want to introduce a mandatory national minimum wage, crack down further on tax evasion and raise some taxes — a move that Merkel says would be bad for the economy.

Her weakness, however, lies in the Free Democrats.

The smaller party is in disarray after failing to win major tax cuts it demanded at Germany‘s 2009 election and taking much of the blame for persistent coalition infighting.

Gero Neugebauer, a political scientist at Berlin’s Free University, said the party “has a problem, which is it doesn’t have a profile that is sufficiently attractive for enough voters.”

“The government‘s work as a whole, particularly that of the chancellor, is viewed very positively by the majority of the population,” the general secretary of Merkel’s Christian Democrats, Hermann Groehe, said recently.

But, he added, “the Free Democrats must ensure that they also benefit from this successful record.”

If the Free Democrats stumble, party leader and vice chancellor Philipp Roesler, whose home state is Lower Saxony, is widely expected to lose his job. The party’s poll ratings haven’t improved since he took over in 2011.

Merkel’s preference is to continue her alliance with the Free Democrats, her party’s traditional partner. If the Free Democrats run poorly in September, she could try to revive her 2005-9 “grand coalition” with Steinbrueck’s Social Democrats, a combination popular with voters but not with either party’s rank-and-file.

The Social Democrats are more open than Merkel’s coalition to pooling European countries’ debt as the continent claws its way out of its financial crisis.

Nevertheless, analysts are skeptical as to how far Germany‘s European policy would shift with a change of power.

Economists at Deutsche Bank said in a recent research note that Merkel and Steinbrueck differ more on style than substance, and that the country’s supreme court and public opinion “will continue to constrain policy.”

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News