2013 German Elections

[General Mung Beans]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/23/world ... wanted=all

Merkel Re-elected in Show of Strong Support for Party

By ALISON SMALE
Published: September 22, 2013
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BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel scored a stunning personal triumph in Sunday’s national elections in Germany, becoming the only major leader to be re-elected twice since the financial crisis of 2008 and winning strong popular endorsement for her mix of austerity and solidarity in managing troubled Europe.

Although final vote tallies were not expected until Monday, the surprising show of strength for the chancellor and her center-right Christian Democrats — even their own polls had not suggested such a result — might just translate into an absolute majority, according to exit polls by both major German television stations. That is something no German chancellor has achieved since Konrad Adenauer in 1957.

Ms. Merkel, 59 and a physicist raised in Communist East Germany, was unusually buoyant when she appeared before supporters, who chanted “Angie! Angie!” and gave her two whole minutes of applause at party headquarters. She exuberantly thanked voters, campaigners and her husband, the quantum chemist Joachim Sauer. Mr. Sauer, who tends to shun the limelight, stood at the side of the stage, acknowledging the jubilation of her fans.

Later, during a raucous celebration at her party headquarters, Ms. Merkel clapped and sang along with the crowds but reminded them, “Tomorrow, we work.”

For all her success, it is not clear how Ms. Merkel will govern in her third four-year term. Her allies for the past four years, the business-minded Free Democrats, were expected to lose their place in Parliament, missing the 5 percent cutoff. And a narrow majority would be unstable — risking defeat in crucial parliamentary votes needed to pass more aid or credits for troubled economies.

So the most likely course is that Ms. Merkel will enter a grand coalition with the No. 2 party nationally, the center-left Social Democrats.

In the past three years, the Social Democrats have given crucial support to Ms. Merkel in Parliament in passing credit lines and aid packages, tied to painful reforms, for euro-zone countries in need. But the center-leftists are likely to extract a high price in domestic reforms — a minimum wage, or social change — in exchange for joining a Merkel government in which they would be clearly the junior partner. Exit poll projections showed them with around 25 percent, far below their center-right rivals, whose vote totals are projected to be around 42 percent.

Ms. Merkel entered politics after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. She is now widely viewed as the world’s most powerful woman, and set to overtake Margaret Thatcher as Europe’s longest-serving elected female leader.

Her critics accuse her of lacking strategic vision, relying on tactical skills to survive, and ask why she has not used her power to write more history, both at home and in the unified Europe that is the source of Germany’s political and economic strength.

“She has a technocratic understanding of Europe,” said Joschka Fischer, the former Greens leader and foreign minister from 1998 to 2005. But, he added, “Europe is not a scientific project.”

The euro crisis, in this view, is about politics and sovereignty, and how much of the latter the 17 nations that use the euro, and the 11 others in the European Union, are prepared to abandon to make a success of their project.

Mr. Fischer sees Germany, and Europe, as stuck midway while crossing a river, unable to return to the riverbank they have left, but unable to get to the other side with Ms. Merkel as navigator.

Other analysts suggested that neither the chancellor nor most Germans, who are conservative by nature and relish their position as the economic powerhouse of Europe, are prepared to shoulder such leadership.

Sunday’s election outcome “is the safest course for a country like Germany,” Annette Heuser, executive director of the Bertelsmann Foundation, said in a telephone interview from Washington. The mentality, she said, is “Why rock the boat?”

Yet the elections also hinted at more volatility in German politics, with the Greens, for example, tumbling from 20 percent-plus showings two years ago to less than 9 percent on Sunday. Most surprisingly, the Alternative for Germany, a protest party founded on an anti-euro platform, came from nowhere and nearly landed in Parliament, just missing the 5 percent hurdle.

Alternative party supporters who gathered in a Berlin hotel were euphoric, believing that they had administered a shock to the chancellor.

“It will be noticed,” said Stefan Lindemann, a hotel director from Potsdam. “This will make Frau Merkel think about whether her Europe policy is the right one.”

Franz Niggemann, who ran for the party in the Tempelhof-Schöneberg section of Berlin, said: “When you think that we were founded in February, it’s a fabulous result.”

Germany’s European allies have been in suspense, waiting for the continent’s most important election this year. President François Hollande of France indicated how eager, even impatient, they are when he congratulated Ms. Merkel from Paris and invited her to visit as soon as possible. Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain, who hopes Ms. Merkel will support his quest to claw back rights from Europe’s regulators in Brussels, posted his congratulations on Twitter, adding, “I’m looking forward to continuing to work closely with her.”

The next most pressing change on the European agenda is probably banking union, on which Germany has not pushed hard. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who with Ms. Merkel has guided his country through the euro crisis, went on television Sunday night to assure European partners that Germany would continue to play its reliable part in the continent’s affairs, but mentioned no specifics.

Jan Techau, director of Carnegie Europe in Brussels, was in Germany for the election and said Sunday’s vote meant that it would be winter before Europe resumed any overhauls.

While the chancellor has talked often of “more Europe,” lately she has shown little appetite for political restructuring that would require complex changes to the treaties that govern the European Union, Mr. Techau noted.

Her major goal is “to get out of this crisis in one piece,” he said. “This muddling through can continue for a while.”


Melissa Eddy and Jack Ewing contributed reporting.
A version of this article appears in print on September 23, 2013, on page A4 of the New York Times

[salm]

Germans are morons.

[bobalot]

Germans are morons.

Why? The economy is relatively good compared to the rest of Europe. I can see why the ruling party would perform strongly.

[Kitsune]

Generally, I can live with "Center Right" especially since they are most likely mostly left of US Democtrats
Just want to get rid of our absolutely whacked "Super Right"

[Irbis]

Why? The economy is relatively good compared to the rest of Europe. I can see why the ruling party would perform strongly.

Because so far policies of Merkel's Minister of Finance led to tumbling from European crisis to crisis always barely patched five minutes before midnight?

Also, Merkel had on her side most of German press trying to hide and downplay ineptitude of her ministers. To give a few examples, her first minister of defence was caught plagiarizing his title thesis and was infamously kicked out, her second minister of defence paid Americans 900 mln $ for a plane that is incompatible with European airspace laws (link) and had to be cancelled as a result...

Then, as if the above didn't show his competence, there was another sad incident where drugged Turkish teenager easily slipped by German military guards and partied aboard Merkel's plane (then said military was unable to arrest him for four hours) - when I asked my German friend about it he struggled to find anything about it on the news and had to look on English version of German news portal to give me link. Speaking of which, I wonder from what the carpet and paint on that plane are made of seeing they're worth 140.000$.

[FTeik]

Why? The economy is relatively good compared to the rest of Europe. I can see why the ruling party would perform strongly.

Because so far policies of Merkel's Minister of Finance led to tumbling from European crisis to crisis always barely patched five minutes before midnight?

And you think anybody else would/could have done a better job? With 27 countries, that have all different interests?

Also, Merkel had on her side most of German press trying to hide and downplay ineptitude of her ministers. To give a few examples, her first minister of defence was caught plagiarizing his title thesis and was infamously kicked out, her second minister of defence paid Americans 900 mln $ for a plane that is incompatible with European airspace laws (link) and had to be cancelled as a result...

To be honest, considering, that that drone would have been used mostly OUTside of Europe I fail to see how incompatibility with European Airspace Laws could have been a problem ... .

Then, as if the above didn't show his competence, there was another sad incident where drugged Turkish teenager easily slipped by German military guards and partied aboard Merkel's plane (then said military was unable to arrest him for four hours) - when I asked my German friend about it he struggled to find anything about it on the news and had to look on English version of German news portal to give me link. Speaking of which, I wonder from what the carpet and paint on that plane are made of seeing they're worth 140.000$.

So the Minister of Defence is incompetent, because the guards of a plane screwed up. Guess you really can't rely on other people and in the future Thomas DeMaizere will have to patrol around the plane himself. At least Angela Merkel didn't encounter intruders within her personal quarters or at official receptions: http://www.mandatory.com/2012/06/06/11- ... crew-ups/4

With Merkel unable to rule alone and the other parties, that got into the Bundestag twiddling their thumbs (with just reason) it might take till Christmas for Germany to get a new, working government. Nothing big has happened for the last few months on the national or european stage because of the election and it seems this result of the election won't be the coup people have been hoping for.

The mudcrawling continues.

[Irbis]

And you think anybody else would/could have done a better job? With 27 countries, that have all different interests?

Anyone proactive, not reactive would do a better job. He almost always reacts, and brings further lack of stability into damaged system that really doesn't need it. This increases future costs for Germany too, you know. For one, did you look how Euro/$ exchange rate looks now? Guess what very strong currency will do to German exports.

To be honest, considering, that that drone would have been used mostly OUTside of Europe I fail to see how incompatibility with European Airspace Laws could have been a problem...

One: expensive bases on which this plane was to be stationed are in Germany. Which is, let me point it out on map for you, in Europe. Yes, you can ship it in plane, but it is far more expensive and wastes drone's best selling point, its range.

Two: to get from Germany to country outside of Europe it would need to fly, guess what, over Europe. As it is, it had to be flown from USA to Germany with very indirect, sidetracking route over oceans/Greenland, because it was denied direct usage of NA airspace for the same reason, possible collisions. Especially seeing on US-German flight, peaceful, unarmed route, the drone lost contact with base several times and nearly crashed as a result.

So the Minister of Defence is incompetent, because the guards of a plane screwed up.

In real life, yes, when subordinates screw up it's the superior that is usually responsible. Especially one who is supposed to create procedures for them to follow.

Nothing big has happened for the last few months on the national or european stage because of the election and it seems this result of the election won't be the coup people have been hoping for.

The mudcrawling continues.

Which is bad thing for the whole EU, sadly. And since I work in industry that could use some economic growth to generate more orders, yes, it's issue that concerns not only the Germans.

[salm]

I don´t care too much about specific screw ups like De Maizières drone debacle. That could have happened to pretty much anybody and isn´t all that important in my book. My main concern is the general direction Merkel is stearing this country into. In the long run the social policies will divide the country more into rich and poor and the more divided a counry is the less pleasent it is to live in.

Their stance on healthcare and pensions is probably my main concern. The other relevant parties want to get rid or dramatically reduce the importance of private helthcare and private penson plans.
The other relevant parties want to raise taxes for the better off. That is good.
The CDUs stance on mimium wage is bad.
The CDUs stance on homosexual marriage (civil union with lots but not all rights) is annoying.
The CDUs stance on family policy is absurd.
The way they are handling the Prism/Tempora desaster is infurating. The funniest example was Friedrichs declaration that "Security is a super fundamental right."

[Thanas]

I don´t care too much about specific screw ups like De Maizières drone debacle. That could have happened to pretty much anybody and isn´t all that important in my book.

Not to mention that the drone debacle started under previous governments.

My main concern is the general direction Merkel is stearing this country into. In the long run the social policies will divide the country more into rich and poor and the more divided a counry is the less pleasent it is to live in.

I agree on this but find it hard to vote for the SPD since - if you look for example at Kraft - they all view the state as the great nanny who can fix it.

Their stance on healthcare and pensions is probably my main concern. The other relevant parties want to get rid or dramatically reduce the importance of private helthcare and private penson plans.

Yeah, but considering the private system has worked pretty well so far I fail to see this as a problem. Seems to me that instead of fixing things like healthcare and admin costs in general they want to instead abolish the private sector. If everyone gets the standard healthcare then there is no other yardstick to measure against. Note: I also get standard Government insurance right now.

The other relevant parties want to raise taxes for the better off. That is good.

Measured, yes.

The CDUs stance on mimium wage is bad.
The CDUs stance on homosexual marriage (civil union with lots but not all rights) is annoying.

Agreed.

The CDUs stance on family policy is absurd.
The way they are handling the Prism/Tempora desaster is infurating. The funniest example was Friedrichs declaration that "Security is a super fundamental right."

I somewhat agree with the first one - they tried to do a lot with Kitas etc but these efforts failed. I find it hart to fail them for trying to support both Kitas and mothers raising their children by themselves.... but in general, this seems to be something that all parties are struggling with. I live in NRW and it is hardly a great place to raise children. As to Prism/Tempora, only the BVerfG can save us now since all parties are complicit in it.

When I made my choices, I wondered what Steinbrück could offer me over Merkel. Not much, really. To me the downsides of having this clown were far too heavy.

[Thanas]

And you think anybody else would/could have done a better job? With 27 countries, that have all different interests?

Anyone proactive, not reactive would do a better job. He almost always reacts, and brings further lack of stability into damaged system that really doesn't need it. This increases future costs for Germany too, you know. For one, did you look how Euro/$ exchange rate looks now? Guess what very strong currency will do to German exports.

You can't demand Germany to be more active. Europe does not want any more reforms to become more like Germany and Germany won't pay without getting something. Nor do the countries involved want to give more power to Brussels.

*snip drone stuff*

None of that is Merkel's fault alone. Previous Governments saddled her with that mess and it could have happened to anyone.

In real life, yes, when subordinates screw up it's the superior that is usually responsible. Especially one who is supposed to create procedures for them to follow.

The job of the defence minister is not to personally create protection procedures. Maybe in Poland, but not in Germany.

Which is bad thing for the whole EU, sadly. And since I work in industry that could use some economic growth to generate more orders, yes, it's issue that concerns not only the Germans.

Yeah. I can't really fault the Polish Government here, they were one of the few who indicated they would give more power to Brussels to get something done. But they are not the Greeks, Spanish or Italians.