Breaking up?
July 20, 2009
With just 10 weeks to go until national elections in Germany, the small northern state of Schleswig-Holstein is displaying the friction between Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), and their grand coalition partners, the Social Democrats (SPD).
Monday's vote on dissolving the parliament failed, as it didn't achieve the required two-thirds majority. The CDU initiated the motion but their SPD coalition partners voted against it, having pledged to do so before the ballot.
Now, the CDU's state premier Peter Harry Carstensen plans to initiate a vote of confidence in a final bid to dissolve the government. Curiously, this means the CDU will be voting against its own leadership and hoping that smaller parties in the region follow suit.
The regional leader for the Social Democrats, Ralf Stegner, had always opposed the motion to disband the coalition, accusing the CDU of political chicanery.
Stegner, speaking to the Berliner Morgenpost daily paper, said the CDU's State Premier Peter Harry Carstensen had deceived parliament.
"Someone, who seeks to shatter the coalition, and who lies to the house, shouldn't think about dissolving parliament, rather, he should step down," Stegner said.
Determined to split
After the SPD blocked the vote to dissolve parliament, Carstensen said his rivals had "left [him] no other choice" but to call for a vote of confidence on the current government. He had already indicated he would be prepared to take this measure if necessary, saying Stegner's calls for his resignation had forced his hand.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has supported Carstensen throughout, and has called for a new election in Schleswig-Holstein. She said the coalition in Schleswig-Holstein had never really pulled together, and blamed the Social Democrats for stifling progress.
Merkel said that every other party in the state was in favor of reforming the government.
"That speaks for itself, and it's also what should happen," Merkel said.
The dispute between the CDU and SPD has taken on special significance so close to national elections in Germany. Currently, the two parties rule in an uneasy coalition in Berlin, but both sides are hoping to secure enough votes in September to be able to rule with smaller parties whose agendas are more similar to their own.
msh/Reuters/dpa/AP
Editor: Neil King