Ulrich Rippert | German state election reveals an all-party coalition against the population
Ulrich Rippert says that the parliamentary election in Germany’s most densely populated state North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) on May 9 is already having national repercussions.
Looking back, business circles have the fondest memories of the Social Democrat Party (SPD)-Green Party coalition led by Gerhard Schröder and Joschka Fischer, which took over from Kohl in 1998 and governed until 2005. The Schröder-Fischer government implemented more “social reforms”—i.e., drastic social and welfare cuts—than any other German government before or since. This is why the SPD and the Greens are now being heavily promoted in the North-Rhine Westphalia election campaign.
According to opinion polls, both the SPD and the Greens have increased their level of support, while support for the CDU has fallen following revelations of dubious relations between the party and business interests. Although such relations prevail amongst all parties, these revelations have been blown up into a scandal.
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May 1, 2010 11:07 am
Sorry. But your statement that the SPD and the Greens are heavily promoted because(!) they introduced social and welfare cuts is absolutely unsubstantial. If those parties would advertise with that so called “Hartz IV” reform they wouldn’t have a chance being elected.
But I see a different threat. The NRW Greens announced to go into government with the consecative party CDU if it was needed. This could put serious damage on the Green’s reputation.