BY JIM GREEN
The German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democratic-Greens coalition government was narrowly re-elected in the September 22 national elections.
The Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the conservative Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) each won 38.5% of the vote. Consequently, the election was decided on the greater vote of the SPD's coalition partner, the Greens, compared to the CDU/CSU's likely coalition partner, the Free Democratic Party (FDP). The Greens won 8.6% of the vote, 1.9% more than in 1998. The FDP won 7.4%, up 1.2% from its 1998 vote.
The left-reformist Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) vote fell from 5.1% in 1998 to 4% on September 22. Consequently, for the first time since German reunification in 1990, the PDS failed to achieve either of the requirements for proportional party representation in the new parliament 5% of the national party vote or three directly elected MPs (Germans cast two votes one for a local representative, another for a party list). The PDS has dropped from 37 seats to just two directly elected MPs, from East Berlin, in the new parliament.
Far-right parties the Republicans, the National Party of Germany and the Schill Party won a combined total of just 1.8% of the vote. They faced stiff competition from CDU/CSU leader Edmund Stoiber, who pledged to deport 4000 alleged Islamic militants if elected.
Stoiber, in turn, faced stiff competition from the SPD-Greens government, whose attacks on asylum seekers and refugees led Georg Claasen of the Berlin Refugee Council to complain that the government's immigration policies were tailor-made for stirring up xenophobic prejudice and emotionalism. An immigration law was enacted earlier this year which makes immigration easier for people with skills in demand by German business, but more difficult for everyone else.
'Peace' through war
The issue which dominated the election campaign was the planned US war on Iraq. Schroeder opposed a war on Iraq or German involvement in it even if sanctioned by a UN Security Council resolution. Stoiber was more supportive of the US war drive, but his equivocation on the issue, in an attempt to be all things to all people, won him and his party no support.
The anti-war stance of the SPD-Greens government was a significant factor in turning around polls which had the CDU/CSU well ahead earlier this year. About 80% of Germans oppose a war against Iraq, and the government's position also reflected corporate concerns about the direct and indirect economic impacts of a war, particularly its potential to precipitate an oil crisis.
The SPD-Greens government has not been shy about involving Germany in imperialist military operations. In a pre-election debate, Schroeder boasted that spending on overseas military operations had increased 10-fold under the SPD-Greens government. The German defence ministry has initiated a huge spending program costing an estimated 110 billion euros between 2001 and 2015.
Schroeder also boasted in the pre-election debate that Germany now has more soldiers abroad than any other country apart from the US. There are approximately 60,000 German soldiers involved either directly or indirectly in military operations in 16 countries or regions around the world.
As soon as the SPD-Greens government was elected in 1998, it supported German military involvement in NATO's war on Yugoslavia. There are now 7700 German soldiers involved in operations in the Balkans.
The German government's refusal to endorse or participate in a war on Iraq has caused friction between Berlin and Washington.
Washington's rebuke
The government's position highlights the fact that the interests of Germany's ruling elites do not always coincide with their American counterparts. German corporations, and their political representatives, aim to strengthen Germany within Europe and to strengthen the European Union vis-a-vis the US. Thus the SPD-Greens government has worked towards the creation of European armed forces an EU summit in 1999 decided to create a Euro Corps of 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers by 2003.
Nevertheless, on many issues Washington and Berlin are in complete agreement. In response to the soured relations over Iraq, Schroeder stressed that Germany is making a big contribution to the War on Terror and has the best part of 10,000 troops in Afghanistan and the Balkans. Greens leader and foreign minister Joschka Fischer reverted to type the day after the election, saying that the US is indispensable for peace and stability.
Before the election campaign, the SPD-Greens government had supported military attacks on Iraq. In February 2001, Fischer expressed the German government's understanding of US and British bombing raids on Iraq. We do not criticise the action our allies had to take under an immensely difficult situation, he said.
The German government has also supported the sanctions against Iraq which have caused the death of hundreds of thousands of children.
Despite the German government's anti-war rhetoric during the election campaign, shortly after the election, Thomas Matuseek, the German ambassador to London, said his government's support for a war on Iraq would depend on the wording of any UN resolution. The Sydney Morning Herald's Berlin correspondent, Peter Fray, reported on September 24: Officials and analysts in Berlin said the German approach would be to
look for ways for Germany to be involved on the periphery of an Iraq conflict. Germany has already offered help to United Nations weapons inspectors and could play a significant role in peacekeeping.
During a NATO meeting in Warsaw on September 25, Germany and the Netherlands agreed to take over the leading role in a peace-keeping force in Afghanistan in the near future; that could free up British and US troops for an operation in Iraq.
From Green Left Weekly, October 2, 2002.
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GERMANY: Anti-war rhetoric puts SPD-Greens coalition back in office
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GERMANY: Anti-war rhetoric puts SPD-Greens coalition back in office
BY JIM GREEN
The German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democratic-Greens coalition
government was narrowly re-elected in the September 22 national elections.
The Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the conservative Christian Democratic
Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) each won 38.5% of the vote. Consequently,
the election was decided on the greater vote of the SPD's coalition partner,
the Greens, compared to the CDU/CSU's likely coalition partner, the Free
Democratic Party (FDP). The Greens won 8.6% of the vote, 1.9% more than
in 1998. The FDP won 7.4%, up 1.2% from its 1998 vote.
The left-reformist Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) vote fell from
5.1% in 1998 to 4% on September 22. Consequently, for the first time since
German reunification in 1990, the PDS failed to achieve either of the requirements
for proportional party representation in the new parliament
5% of the national party vote or three directly elected MPs (Germans cast
two votes one for a local representative, another for a party
list). The PDS has dropped from 37 seats to just two directly elected MPs,
from East Berlin, in the new parliament.
Far-right parties the Republicans, the National Party of
Germany and the Schill Party won a combined total of just 1.8%
of the vote. They faced stiff competition from CDU/CSU leader Edmund Stoiber,
who pledged to deport 4000 alleged Islamic militants if elected.
Stoiber, in turn, faced stiff competition from the SPD-Greens government,
whose attacks on asylum seekers and refugees led Georg Claasen of the Berlin
Refugee Council to complain that the government's immigration policies
were "tailor-made for stirring up xenophobic prejudice and emotionalism".
An immigration law was enacted earlier this year which makes immigration
easier for people with skills in demand by German business, but more difficult
for everyone else.
'Peace' through war
The issue which dominated the election campaign was the planned US war
on Iraq. Schroeder opposed a war on Iraq or German involvement
in it even if sanctioned by a UN Security Council resolution.
Stoiber was more supportive of the US war drive, but his equivocation on
the issue, in an attempt to be all things to all people, won him and his
party no support.
The anti-war stance of the SPD-Greens government was a significant
factor in turning around polls which had the CDU/CSU well ahead earlier
this year. About 80% of Germans oppose a war against Iraq, and the government's
position also reflected corporate concerns about the direct and indirect
economic impacts of a war, particularly its potential to precipitate an
oil crisis.
The SPD-Greens government has not been shy about involving Germany
in imperialist military operations. In a pre-election debate, Schroeder
boasted that spending on overseas military operations had increased 10-fold
under the SPD-Greens government. The German defence ministry has initiated
a huge spending program costing an estimated 110 billion euros between
2001 and 2015.
Schroeder also boasted in the pre-election debate that Germany now
has more soldiers abroad than any other country apart from the US. There
are approximately 60,000 German soldiers involved either directly or indirectly
in military operations in 16 countries or regions around the world.
As soon as the SPD-Greens government was elected in 1998, it supported
German military involvement in NATO's war on Yugoslavia. There are now
7700 German soldiers involved in operations in the Balkans.
The German government's refusal to endorse or participate in a war
on Iraq has caused friction between Berlin and Washington.
Washington's rebuke
The government's position highlights the fact that the interests of Germany's
ruling elites do not always coincide with their American counterparts.
German corporations, and their political representatives, aim to strengthen
Germany within Europe and to strengthen the European Union vis-a-vis the
US. Thus the SPD-Greens government has worked towards the creation of European
armed forces an EU summit in 1999 decided to create a Euro
Corps of 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers by 2003.
Nevertheless, on many issues Washington and Berlin are in complete
agreement. In response to the soured relations over Iraq, Schroeder stressed
that Germany is making a big contribution to the War on Terror and has
the best part of 10,000 troops in Afghanistan and the Balkans. Greens leader
and foreign minister Joschka Fischer reverted to type the day after the
election, saying that the US is "indispensable for peace and stability".
Before the election campaign, the SPD-Greens government had supported
military attacks on Iraq. In February 2001, Fischer expressed the German
government's "understanding" of US and British bombing raids on Iraq. "We
do not criticise the action our allies had to take under an immensely difficult
situation", he said.
The German government has also supported the sanctions against Iraq
which have caused the death of hundreds of thousands of children.
Despite the German government's anti-war rhetoric during the election
campaign, shortly after the election, Thomas Matuseek, the German ambassador
to London, said his government's support for a war on Iraq would depend
on the wording of any UN resolution. The Sydney Morning Herald's Berlin
correspondent, Peter Fray, reported on September 24: "Officials and analysts
in Berlin said the German approach would be to look for ways
for Germany to be involved on the periphery of an Iraq conflict. Germany
has already offered help to United Nations weapons inspectors and could
play a significant role in peacekeeping."
During a NATO meeting in Warsaw on September 25, Germany and the Netherlands
agreed to take over the leading role in a "peace-keeping" force in Afghanistan
in the near future; that could free up British and US troops for an operation
in Iraq.
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