When she first came to power, Angela Merkel was heralded as Germany's Thatcher: a trail-blazing female leader who would shake up the country's traditional, male-dominated politics. Yet in their approach to government, they are as different as day and night.
At a campaign rally in Münster's handsome city square, the party faithful of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) have gathered respectfully beneath the gilded clocks of the cathedral. Although the 55-year-old Chancellor's big theme is decisiveness e_SEnD she and the CDU have it, their rivals do not e_SEnD her listeners take instruction, not inspiration.
Eventually, something does stir, as dozens of activists hold up pre-printed placards and start chanting: "Angie, Angie." But the daughter of an austere pastor from East Germany has always been a comforting, rather than galvanising, figure for a nation still trying to create a unified identity 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
"It is good that we are led by someone from the East," says Christina Ciszek, a journalist from Berlin. "Her character is sober, her lifestyle is modest and she is very knowledgeable and competent. It's a good, stable message."
As a result, the general election on September 27 has long been seen as the Chancellor's to lose, a contest that will return the country to one-party rule after four years of an uneasy grand coalition. Yet according to Christian Dreger, a leading economist, Germany's choices in the face of a global downturn remain painfully limited, whatever the outcome of the election.
"We cannot turn to domestic consumers because demographic trends necessitate a continuation of the export orientation we have relied on," he says. "To return to growth we must increase market share in China, the Middle East and Russia to replace the US consumer."
Germany's main political parties, led by Mrs Merkel and her "clinically boring" opponent, Walter Steinmeier of the Social Democrats (SPD), have shown no appetite for radical remedies. "This is the worst economic situation in recent history and the German parties aren't adapting to the very real dissatisfaction," says Thorsten Benner, who works for an American-style think tank in Berlin, the Global Public Policy Institute. "The German mindset is not based on change and innovation, but has formed around the skills that have driven conventional industries to reach perfection.
"Merkel's success is to ride to victory by stealth on a platform of 'I'll protect you' e_SEnD she's never been a cold‑hearted reformer."
That isn't to say that German politics is a completely closed shop. Both main parties have turned to relative newcomers to provide a fresh voice on financial matters. Harald Christ, a venture capitalist who advises Mr Steinmeier on the economy, operates from a modernist office of a type that exemplifies the reborn east Berlin. He maintains that Germany is strong but needs to entrench its position with reforms that aid small businesses e_SEnD the famed Mittelstand. It's a form of tinkering that suits the low-key campaign of his party leader. "Germany doesn't need a messiah, just a government that is capable of acting in the interests of all," says Christ.
The CDU has taken a different route in its choice of Wunderkind: its posters promote the economics minister, Karl-Theodore zu Guttenburg, a Bavarian baron well-known for his attractive wife and leather-jacketed appearances at heavy metal concerts.
"Mr Guttenburg is different from the political establishment," says Corinna Nienstedt, a director of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce. "He still feels free to have independent thoughts and is regarded as authentic. Mrs Merkel is just the opposite: she doesn't talk in concrete terms and never gives a clear statement. He's young, handsome and colourful and she is safe. That's the mix."
Any truly bold policies have been left to the smaller parties, such as the Free Democrats, Mrs Merkel's probable coalition partner, who have seen their support double in the polls. "We don't have the money to carry on as we have," insists Sylvia Canel, a party candidate in Hamburg. "The more money in your pocket, the better it will be for the German economy. We have to stop the state growing e_SEnD the more money it has, the less people do for themselves."
It is a message that sounds like Norman Tebbit's "Get on your bike" e_SEnD especially to poorer voters in the former East Germany. But even they recognise that change needs to happen.
Doreen Yantz, a 38-year-old housewife from Neurippen, north of Berlin, is old enough to remember the fall of the Wall, and can appreciate both sides of the dilemma.
"Those times in the past were good for ordinary families because they were secure," she says. "People had a job and they were not afraid of failure, because it did not exist. My son is only three but I'm sure if there are no opportunities when he grows up that he will move away. After all, we have the freedom to travel now."
To create those opportunities will require hard action e_SEnD but for the moment, all that is on offer is tough talk. Mrs Merkel's campaign slogan is e_SDLqWir haben die Krafte_SDRq ("We have the strength"), and in Munster it is a theme she hammers relentlessly, invoking the memory of her mentor, former chancellor Helmut Kohl. "It was Kohl who had the strength to say Germany must unite when the Social Democrats wanted a delay 20 years ago," she says. "Only the CDU can make the tough decisions that face Germany."
In the heart of the old West Germany, it is a bravura display. Angie may not be the new Maggie, but for Germany, it seems there is no alternative.
At a campaign rally in Münster's handsome city square, the party faithful of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) have gathered respectfully beneath the gilded clocks of the cathedral. Although the 55-year-old Chancellor's big theme is decisiveness e_SEnD she and the CDU have it, their rivals do not e_SEnD her listeners take instruction, not inspiration.
Eventually, something does stir, as dozens of activists hold up pre-printed placards and start chanting: "Angie, Angie." But the daughter of an austere pastor from East Germany has always been a comforting, rather than galvanising, figure for a nation still trying to create a unified identity 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
"It is good that we are led by someone from the East," says Christina Ciszek, a journalist from Berlin. "Her character is sober, her lifestyle is modest and she is very knowledgeable and competent. It's a good, stable message."
As a result, the general election on September 27 has long been seen as the Chancellor's to lose, a contest that will return the country to one-party rule after four years of an uneasy grand coalition. Yet according to Christian Dreger, a leading economist, Germany's choices in the face of a global downturn remain painfully limited, whatever the outcome of the election.
"We cannot turn to domestic consumers because demographic trends necessitate a continuation of the export orientation we have relied on," he says. "To return to growth we must increase market share in China, the Middle East and Russia to replace the US consumer."
Germany's main political parties, led by Mrs Merkel and her "clinically boring" opponent, Walter Steinmeier of the Social Democrats (SPD), have shown no appetite for radical remedies. "This is the worst economic situation in recent history and the German parties aren't adapting to the very real dissatisfaction," says Thorsten Benner, who works for an American-style think tank in Berlin, the Global Public Policy Institute. "The German mindset is not based on change and innovation, but has formed around the skills that have driven conventional industries to reach perfection.
"Merkel's success is to ride to victory by stealth on a platform of 'I'll protect you' e_SEnD she's never been a cold‑hearted reformer."
That isn't to say that German politics is a completely closed shop. Both main parties have turned to relative newcomers to provide a fresh voice on financial matters. Harald Christ, a venture capitalist who advises Mr Steinmeier on the economy, operates from a modernist office of a type that exemplifies the reborn east Berlin. He maintains that Germany is strong but needs to entrench its position with reforms that aid small businesses e_SEnD the famed Mittelstand. It's a form of tinkering that suits the low-key campaign of his party leader. "Germany doesn't need a messiah, just a government that is capable of acting in the interests of all," says Christ.
The CDU has taken a different route in its choice of Wunderkind: its posters promote the economics minister, Karl-Theodore zu Guttenburg, a Bavarian baron well-known for his attractive wife and leather-jacketed appearances at heavy metal concerts.
"Mr Guttenburg is different from the political establishment," says Corinna Nienstedt, a director of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce. "He still feels free to have independent thoughts and is regarded as authentic. Mrs Merkel is just the opposite: she doesn't talk in concrete terms and never gives a clear statement. He's young, handsome and colourful and she is safe. That's the mix."
Any truly bold policies have been left to the smaller parties, such as the Free Democrats, Mrs Merkel's probable coalition partner, who have seen their support double in the polls. "We don't have the money to carry on as we have," insists Sylvia Canel, a party candidate in Hamburg. "The more money in your pocket, the better it will be for the German economy. We have to stop the state growing e_SEnD the more money it has, the less people do for themselves."
It is a message that sounds like Norman Tebbit's "Get on your bike" e_SEnD especially to poorer voters in the former East Germany. But even they recognise that change needs to happen.
Doreen Yantz, a 38-year-old housewife from Neurippen, north of Berlin, is old enough to remember the fall of the Wall, and can appreciate both sides of the dilemma.
"Those times in the past were good for ordinary families because they were secure," she says. "People had a job and they were not afraid of failure, because it did not exist. My son is only three but I'm sure if there are no opportunities when he grows up that he will move away. After all, we have the freedom to travel now."
To create those opportunities will require hard action e_SEnD but for the moment, all that is on offer is tough talk. Mrs Merkel's campaign slogan is e_SDLqWir haben die Krafte_SDRq ("We have the strength"), and in Munster it is a theme she hammers relentlessly, invoking the memory of her mentor, former chancellor Helmut Kohl. "It was Kohl who had the strength to say Germany must unite when the Social Democrats wanted a delay 20 years ago," she says. "Only the CDU can make the tough decisions that face Germany."
In the heart of the old West Germany, it is a bravura display. Angie may not be the new Maggie, but for Germany, it seems there is no alternative.
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