JP Floru is the Director of Programmes at the Adam Smith Institute. The age of irresponsibility is here to stay, it appears. One person makes a mistake, and another person is supposed to foot the bill. Or bail out, as the new terminology goes. The Greek government lives above its means? European politicians want the German taxpayers […]
Andrew Marshall is a director of communications consultancy Fishburn Hedges and a Conservative Party activist On December 16 a referendum will take place in Germany on its participation in the European Stability Mechanism – a referendum, that is, for the 65,000 members of the liberal Free Democrats (FDP). It’s been triggered by a backbencher, and […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter. Overnight we had confirmation that Angela Merkel's CDU/FDP coalition has abandoned plans to extend the life of Germany's ageing nuclear reactors until 2036. By 2022 Germany will become a nuclear-free power and, in preparation, reports Reuters, Merkel will "present five or six bills in Cabinet on June 6, including […]
Tim Montgomerie Nick Clegg will be watching the fortunes of Germany's Free Democratic Party (FDP) with interest. The junior coalition partner in Angela Merkel's government was badly defeated in the recent Baden-Württemberg election. Guido Westervelle has decided to end his ten year leadership of the FDP but continue as Germany's Foreign Secretary. He hopes that […]
Tim Montgomerie Extreme volatility is the big new thing in politics. Yesterday the Australian Labor party wasn't just beaten in New South Wales but "massacred". It was, wrote Jason Groves for ConHome, "the most devastating defeat in Australian political history". Last month Angela Merkel's CDU suffered a heavy defeat in Hamburg. Today, according to exit […]
Tim Montgomerie Angela Merkel received a bloody nose from voters in Hamburg yesterday. Her CDU party's support collapsed from 42.6% in 2008 to just 20% in yesterday's state elections. The elections happened early because the spectrum-transcending CDU-Green alliance formed after 2008's elections, had, not unexpectedly, collapsed. Local factors were clearly powerful, therefore, in an election […]
By Tim Montgomerie On ToryDiary yesterday Jonathan Isaby noted the unhappiness of British newspapers at David Cameron's failure to get a budget freeze at the latest EU summit. The Sunday press is full of reports of waste in the EU budget and anger at the fact UK taxpayers will be sending even more money Brussels-wards. […]
One of the big implications of the rescue of Greece is electoral unpopularity for Angela Merkel. Last weekend the German Chancellor's CDU party lost power in Germany's most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia. With many of the state's cities are the verge of bankruptcy, Mrs Merkel's federal coalition is in no position to help them – […]
ConservativeInternational last looked at Angela Merkel's fortunes at the end of January. Problems with her new FDP coalition partners were already emerging then. Her government's fortunes have got worse since. Guido Westerwelle, the leader of the FDP and her junior coalition partner, has seen his party's popularity halve since becoming German Foreign Minister. 62% of […]
A cover feature in Time magazine called her the most powerful leader in Europe but Angela Merkel has had a bumpy ride since ending her grand coalition with the leftist SDP and forming a coalition with the libertarian FDP. Five observations: Opinion polls show that the German public are unhappy with her start to her […]
6.45pm: Click to watch Angela Merkel's victory speech (translated into English). 5.45pm: Dan Hamilton has just emailed in the exit poll: 2009 2005 CDU/CSU 33.5% (35.2%) SPD 23.5% (34.2%) FDP 14.5% (9.8%) Greens 10.0% (8.1%) Left […]
Both the Financial Times and The Economist hope that Angela Merkel will be able to break free of her 'grand coalition' with the left-leaning SPD after tomorrow's German elections. Latest opinion polls point to a race that is still too close to call. The CDU, when joined with the economically and socially liberal FDP, are […]
The leaders of Germany's main parties debated last night but no clear winner emerged according to instant opinion polls. Watch BBC report. A draw might, however, be something of a setback for Mrs Merkel. Her CDU party's great advantage has been her strong lead in all opinion polls as first choice for German Chancellor. The […]
Germany's CDU has become familar with losing election-winning leads in opinion polls. At the last election it saw a large opinion poll lead eroded by concerns at the flat tax agenda of an adviser to Angela Merkel. The election before that saw Gerhard Schroeder return from the political dead because of his energetic campaign against […]
Current opinion polls point to Angela Merkel not only remaining Chancellor when Germany votes on 27th September but she should also be free to govern without the left-wing Social Democrats. Since 2005 she has had to govern in an awkward grand coalition with the SPD. In that election her party won 35.2% and the SPD […]