Black-yellow coalition seething after nrw debacle
"I am no longer prepared to simply go over to the order of the day". We have to do better, also in berlin," said bavaria’s minister-president on monday evening on ZDF television. He again called for a meeting of the party leaders of the CDU, CSU and FDP to solve urgent problems such as the energy transition. Because of its faltering implementation, environment minister norbert rottgen (CDU), who was also NRW’s top candidate, is coming under further pressure.
"We shouldn’t talk about something that isn’t already there," seehofer said, referring to the CDU’s plunge to 26.3 percent in sunday’s election in germany’s most populous state. This was a disaster. "My answer is simply that we don’t act now as if nothing happened yesterday, but we have to draw consequences from it," seehofer told ZDF’s "heute journal".
On tuesday, the CSU leader referred to the CDU’s previous defeat in baden-wurttemberg. The flywheel must now be set in motion for the 2013 federal election. CSU state party leader gerda hasselfeldt joined in the criticism: "horst seehofer is absolutely right," she told the "rheinische post" (wednesday).
In the sister party CDU, an attempt was made to smooth the waters. "I believe that this is a contribution, among others, to the debate on how we can become even more successful than we already are," said union party leader peter altmaier (CDU) about seehofer’s TV remarks. The black-yellow government will not only get important projects off the ground by the summer recess, but will also pass them.
Hesse’s minister president and CDU federal vice president volker bouffier demanded not to talk up what had been announced. "We as the union must immediately put an end to the back and forth on the care allowance, and the dispute over data retention must be settled within the coalition," he told the newspaper "die welt" (wednesday).
FDP leader philipp rosler defends coalition work. "After all, we have just had a coalition committee. We have had very good results there," the vice chancellor told deutschlandfunk radio. Nothing is being dragged out. In the FDP, displeasure was voiced at seehofer’s announcement that he would boycott meetings of the coalition committee until a draft on care allowance was available. "Horst seehofer behaves like he’s in kindergarten. He is playing with the success of the coalition and should therefore quickly come out of the closet," board member lasse becker told the "bild" newspaper (tuesday).
The leaders of the black-yellow coalition had last met in november. For weeks now, the CSU has been pressing for a speedier introduction of childcare allowances for young children who are brought up at home. After the elections in north rhine-westphalia, chancellor angela merkel (CDU) said that the federal government must now tackle "the tasks that lie ahead of us. This includes the energy transition, care allowance and european policy.
After his defeat in NRW, rottgen also comes under fire as minister. The head of the FDP parliamentary group in schleswig-holstein, wolfgang kubicki, suggested that he resign. "I was made to consider whether i could still perform my function properly," he told the "leipziger volkszeitung" newspaper. The president of the german chamber of industry and commerce (DIHK), hans heinrich driftmann, called for a stronger commitment to the energy transition. "Here, mr. Rottgen can commit himself unreservedly with great emphasis. We are only at the beginning of the energy transition," driftmann told the "hamburger abendblatt" (tuesday).
Seehofer again accused rottgen of serious mistakes in NRW election campaign. "Rottgen started against the woman (SPD minister president hannelore) kraft with a ratio of 37 to 34 percent," the CSU leader said, referring to the starting situation. "And within six weeks, that has melted away like an ice cream sundae standing in the sun." The grossest mistake, he said, had been rottgen’s unwillingness to commit to dusseldorf even in the event of a defeat. He had warned rottgen that this was not his private decision, but would affect the entire union. Rottgen, however, had "let it drip".
