The Rhine River

Bavaria screws conservatives

German elections are clearly in a mess. At the moment neither CDU or SPD has a majority, and at least one of the minor parties, the FDP, is refusing any coalition that includes anti-business interests of the Greens or SPD, denying to Germans the coalition that they want. As the two majority parties fight for the small end of the turf in order to construct legislative majorities (be it the probable Schwarze Ampel or the Jamaica option), minority parties may exert more influence over the course of politics. I think that this state of affairs would not have arisen if Merkel had not pandered so much to Stoiber, the pretender of the last elections and leader of the Bavarian Christian Socialist Union. Merkel lost votes -- not to the SPD, but to the other small parties (Greens, Post-Communists (Linkspartei), FDP), who all have more representation than the CSU.

(Is it time for German politicians to review the problems of late Weimar?)

posted by Nathanael @ 12:27 PM