ANGELA MERKEL, the German chancellor, owes her seat in the Bundestag to voters in her constituency in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. That did her no good when the eastern state held an election on September 4th. Her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) got its worst-ever result there. The Free Democratic Party (FDP), her coalition partner in Berlin, was ejected from the state’s legislature. But on September 7th the chancellor heard better news: Germany’s highest court ruled that earlier measures to rescue the euro do not violate the constitution.
The two verdicts are related. Mrs Merkel’s coalition is slumping in part because voters dislike giant German-backed rescues of shaky euro members. The government wants to boost German guarantees for the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the main bail-out fund, to €211 billion ($295 billion) from €123 billion, and to expand its powers.
This adds to the queasiness felt by Mrs Merkel’s allies. On September 5th some 25 parliamentarians from coalition ranks abstained or voted against the EFSF expansion in a non-binding preliminary vote, casting doubt on whether the government’s 19-seat majority would hold up in a real vote later this month. Some are speculating that the demoralised FDP will pull out of the coalition, presenting itself in a new election as the taxpayers’ champion in a battle against ever-larger bail-outs.
German politics - The Economist
The two verdicts are related. Mrs Merkel’s coalition is slumping in part because voters dislike giant German-backed rescues of shaky euro members. The government wants to boost German guarantees for the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the main bail-out fund, to €211 billion ($295 billion) from €123 billion, and to expand its powers.
This adds to the queasiness felt by Mrs Merkel’s allies. On September 5th some 25 parliamentarians from coalition ranks abstained or voted against the EFSF expansion in a non-binding preliminary vote, casting doubt on whether the government’s 19-seat majority would hold up in a real vote later this month. Some are speculating that the demoralised FDP will pull out of the coalition, presenting itself in a new election as the taxpayers’ champion in a battle against ever-larger bail-outs.
German politics - The Economist
