Schroeder under pressure

2005-10-09 08:24

Berlin - Gerhard Schroeder is the rags-to-riches German chancellor who refused to accept defeat.

In time, history may judge him as the chancellor who hung on too long after his Social Democrats scored fewer seats than their conservative rivals in an inconclusive general election.

Talks on Sunday, three weeks after the election, could see Schroeder finally give up his ambition of serving a third term as leader, having come so close to producing an election victory from the jaws of defeat, just as he did in 2002.

Schroeder, 61, had showed all the political killer instincts which have carried him through seven years as chancellor when he greeted the still open-ended result of the general election on September 18 by insisting he should remain the country's leader.

His Social Democrats may have been pipped by challenger Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats in a close-fought race, but Schroeder acted as if he were the winner.

He refused to go. In the end, he may be forced to bow to Merkel's will.

If that happens, he is unlikely to accept a lesser post in the coalition government of their parties that will ensue.

Schroeder stole a march on his opponents with the shock announcement in May that he would seek elections a year ahead of schedule.

Voters initially appeared relieved that a political change was on the horizon, but his magnetism made the race closer than anyone could have expected.

The man who grew up in poverty had pleaded for one more chance from a country struggling with unemployment running above 11 percent despite his repeated pledges that he would get Germans back to work.

Blessed with an easy charm, he can also seem thin-skinned and erratic, jumping from policy to policy until he wins approval.

He has been accused of trying to be all things to all people - "the bosses' comrade" and a champion of the left-wing - making his approach to Germany's deep-seated problems often appear incoherent.

Schroeder's 1998 election campaign carried the promise of much-needed reform of a bloated bureaucracy and an end to the inertia that marked the twilight of Helmut Kohl's 16-year rule.

Schroeder duly became Germany's seventh postwar chancellor and the first to rule the country who had no memory of World War II.

In 2002, he trailed conservative challenger Edmund Stoiber until the final days before the election, only to secure a wafer-thin victory.

Schroeder became the first postwar leader to back Germany's economic muscle with military might by participating in the NATO bombing campaign over the Yugoslav province of Kosovo in 1999.

After the September 11 attacks in 2001, he declared solidarity with the United States, and laid his government on the line with a confidence vote before parliament that linked its survival to German military participation in the US-led war on terror.

The narrow victory solidified his power.

But he stood firm against US President George W. Bush over Iraq, refusing to commit German troops and causing a rift which severely strained relations between Berlin and Washington.

Yet beyond his staunch opposition to the Iraq war, Schroeder's reign is likely to be remembered for seeing unemployment rise to post-war highs.

- AFP