The Hindu : International : Schroeder faces problems from Left-wing party

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Thursday, May 12, 2005

International

International

Schroeder faces problems from Left-wing party

Simon Tisdall

German Chancellor may face call to quit

LONDON: The leftwing Work & Social Justice party (WASG), Germany's newest political force, is unlikely to win key parliamentary elections in North Rhine-Westphalia on May 22. But its 168 candidates are certain to compound Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's difficulties as his Social Democrats struggle to hold on to a state they have governed since 1966.

Promoting itself as Die Wahlalternative (the election alternative) to politics as usual, many of its members are defectors from Mr. Schroeder's SPD and trade unionists angered by the Government's perceived capitulation to capitalism and unemployment of nearly 5 million. Following insurrectionist fashion, its campaign colour is orange.

``We represent the original SPD programme,'' said Georg Fuerbock, the WASG's spokesman in Dusseldorf. ``The SPD has turned to the right. They support big business and globalisation.

``We are fighting for jobs. We want a minimum wage and a 35-hour week. We want a wealth tax and better pensions — the status quo plus,'' Mr Fuerbock said. ``Capitalism is out of control. We call it neo-liberalism. It is like the economic liberalism of your Manchester school in the 19th century.''

The WASG, which held its first national conference in Dortmund this week, is planning to contest next year's federal elections. It is not expected to pass the 5 per cent threshold in North Rhine-Westphalia. But it is drawing crucial support away from the ruling SPD-Green coalition. Mr. Schroeder's Agenda 2010 reform programme, launched in 2003, has brought few benefits there.

Unemployment in parts of the industrial Ruhr ``rust-belt'' stands at 20 per cent; the jobless total in Germany's most populous state is over a million. This misery has been exacerbated by cuts in benefits for the long-term unemployed.

Opinion polls predict a narrow victory for the Christian Democrats and their rightwing allies. Coming close on the heels of its Schleswig-Holstein defeat, that would amount to a humiliation with national ramifications for the SPD.

As with Tony Blair, it would inevitably lead to demands that Mr. Schroder, who only just won re-election in 2002, make way for a new SPD leader before the next general election.

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005

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