[romania_eu_list] The Schröder-Merkel Debate: Experts Say the Conservative Still Leads the Chancellor

Mon, 05 Sep 2005 07:32:55 -0700

September 5, 2005

The Schröder-Merkel Debate: Experts Say the Conservative Still Leads the Chancellor

By MARK LANDLER

FRANKFURT, Sept. 4 - Germany's conservative leader, Angela Merkel, on Sunday accused Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of saddling the country with record high unemployment and a faltering economy as they met in a televised debate two weeks before the election. Most polls predict that voters will make Mrs. Merkel the first woman in German history to serve as chancellor.

Mr. Schröder, whose relaxed demeanor during the exchange belied his dire political straits, defended his government, saying it had done its best to streamline Germany's welfare state and to overhaul its labor market.

He also played up his foreign policy credentials, reminding viewers of his opposition to the American-led war in Iraq, which helped to propel him to a come-from-behind re-election victory in 2002.

Mr. Schröder said his Social Democratic government had pursued "a foreign policy that has positioned Germany abroad as a middle-sized power for peace - which contributed, and I had to take some criticism for that, to keeping Germany out of the Iraq war, for example."

The chancellor also took note of the criticism of the United States government's relief effort in New Orleans, saying that the inadequate response illustrates why he thinks the state must continue to play a strong role here.

But Mrs. Merkel kept the focus on the chancellor's economic record, noting that the number of jobless rose to more than five million during Mr. Schröder's term, a record for the post-World War II period. Her party, the Christian Democratic Union, has made creating jobs its No. 1 priority.

"You can't be satisfied with the situation in this country," Mrs. Merkel said to Mr. Schröder in one of the debate's few confrontational moments. "I don't see anything in your program to address this."

Though Mrs. Merkel seemed more self-assured than she has been in other such encounters, she spoke with little of the ease or humor of Mr. Schröder, an accomplished television performer.

He was widely expected to win the 90-minute debate, and polls conducted immediately afterward found that a majority of viewers believed that he had outperformed Mrs. Merkel.

Still, Mrs. Merkel's Christian Democrats have maintained a double-digit lead over Mr. Schröder's Social Democrats since he called for elections on Sept. 18, a year earlier than planned. Her performance on Sunday was better than many analysts had predicted. As a result, they said, the debate was not likely to alter the dynamics of the race.

"It could have been that the challenger did not perform well enough to suggest she was up to the job," said Max Kaase, professor of political science at the International University Bremen. "But the important fact was that Merkel performed better than people expected."

While Mr. Schröder received higher marks over all, Mrs. Merkel was judged to have handled questions about jobs and family issues better, said Reinhard Schlinkert, the chairman of Dimap, a polling firm in Bonn.

"Both candidates convinced their own supporters," he said. "I don't think it changed anything."

The debate, however, could play a role in determining whether the Christian Democrats achieve an absolute majority in Parliament, in a coalition with the Free Democratic Party. If that alliance falls short, they would be forced to enter a so-called grand coalition with the Social Democrats.

That has only happened once on a national level in Germany, from 1966 to 1969. Some political analysts fear that such a government would be unstable and lead to paralysis in economic policy. In either case, Mrs. Merkel, 51, would replace Mr. Schröder, 61, as chancellor, becoming the first woman and the first eastern German to head the government.

Mrs. Merkel said that if she became chancellor, she would be an example to other German women. But she otherwise steered clear of personal issues - focusing relentlessly on economic policy.

Mr. Schröder did put her on the defensive by questioning the policies of her chief economic adviser, Paul Kirchhof, an academic and former judge, who advocates replacing Germany's complex tax system with a flat tax. Mrs. Merkel described Mr. Kirchhof as having a vision.

"It isn't a vision," Mr. Schröder replied. "It's unjust."

The two also clashed over Turkey's potential entry into the European Union, which Mr. Schröder supports and Mrs. Merkel opposes. She repeated her position that Europe was not equipped to accept Turkey as a full member of the union, and should offer it a "privileged partnership" instead.

The chancellor said Mrs. Merkel "misunderstood" the geopolitical importance of binding Turkey to Europe, to prevent it from the possibility of sliding into Islamic militancy. It was the same mistake, Mr. Schröder said, that she had made in not backing his decision to rebuff the United States on Iraq.

If elected, Mrs. Merkel is expected to pursue a tighter relationship with the United States. But on Sunday, she seemed reluctant to get into a discussion of foreign policy or trans-Atlantic relations.

Asked how Germany should respond to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, she said it should provide aid, but promptly turned back to talking about domestic issues. Mr. Schröder, on the other hand, noted that President Bush had described the rescue effort as "unacceptable."

"For people in an emergency situation, we don't need a weak state, but a strong state instead," he said. "If everything is privatized, we have to ask ourselves if we have done the right thing."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/international/europe/05germany.html?th=&adxnnl=1&emc=th&adxnnlx=1125915187-vMBbW9BfUgdod0xh2EwP0Q&pagewanted=print

 

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