FTD.de - Autoindustrie - Nachrichten - Chinesen sind heiß auf Volkswagen
Der Volkswagen-Konzern hat in China im ersten Halbjahr so viele Autos verkauft wie noch nie zuvor. Die Marken Volkswagen, Skoda und Audi verzeichneten ein deutliches Plus. Neue Modelle sollen den Erfolg steigern.
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Friday, June 29, 2007
FT.com / Home UK / UK - East German town has a new powerhouse role
FT.com / Home UK / UK - East German town has a new powerhouse role
East German town has a new powerhouse role
By Bertrand Benoit in Greifswald
Published: June 29 2007 04:09 | Last updated: June 29 2007 04:09
From a distance, the Lubmin nuclear power station looks like any other industrial relic from Soviet-era East Germany. Its reactors have gone cold and its gutted buildings flake in the sun.
Frenzied activity inside its kilometre-long turbine hall tells a different story, however. Under a ballet of cranes, scores of workers are assembling steel hulls for the nearby shipyards.
Lubmin’s rehabilitation is an example of the quiet investment boom spreading through Germany’s former communist east.
“With costs in eastern Europe going up, the gap between eastern Germany and neighbouring countries has stopped widening,” says Udo Ludwig, senior economist at the IWH research institute in Halle. “Investors are waking up to this.”
The most recent official statistics are from 2005, when investments in the east took a sharp dip. But Mr Ludwig says they should have rebounded by at least 10 per cent last year, exceeding west German rates by a wide margin.
Economic growth in the region topped the west’s rate by 0.6 percentage points last year, he says, the first time this has happened since the early 1990s. Saxony, one of the east’s six states, had gross domestic product growth of 4 per cent, the fastest in the country.
Labour costs that are a third lower than in the west, a more flexible labour market, longer working hours and lower union membership are some of the factors behind this renaissance.
And that workforce is well trained. Potsdam near Berlin has the highest proportion of university graduates in the country.
Add the often superior transport infrastructure, modern and cheap office properties and a dense network of research institutions, and it is no wonder that many east German cities beat their west German counterparts in attracting industrial projects.
Though few German companies advertise the fact, many have been quietly moving functions from west to east, including Lufthansa, BASF and Siemens. Others have adopted two-tier offshoring strategies. Munich-based MTU Aero Engines is investing both in Poland and in Ludwigsfelde, in Brandenburg, eastern Germany.
“We are even seeing evidence of reverse offshoring,” says Solveigh Jäger, east Germany expert at the BDI industry federation. “German foundries, for instance, have been moving back from eastern Europe to eastern Germany.”
With east German industry now operating at close to capacity, the IWH expects capital goods investment to grow more than 5 per cent this and next year.
If all goes according to plan it is Lubmin that will get the biggest investment of all – a €5bn gas pipeline planned by Gasprom of Russia and Germany’s Eon and BASF. The link, scheduled for completion in 2011, will bring gas directly from Siberia’s gas fields to the former power station.
“When the pipeline news broke, the phone wouldn’t stop ringing,” says Dieter Rittscher, managing director of Energiewerke Nord, the state-owned company that is dismantling the nuclear plant and selling its land.
Investors have spent €200m on the site and planning applications are pending for €6.5bn – more than twice the cost of the decommissioning.
Behind the projects, which include two gas and one coal power stations, are investors such as Dong Energy of Denmark, EnBW, part-owned by EDF of France, and Wingas, a joint venture between Gasprom and BASF.
If all these plans come to fruition, Lubmin, which once supplied a tenth of the German Democratic Republic’s electricity, will reclaim its role as a national energy powerhouse.
The pipeline project may have put Greifswald, home to the Lubmin plant, on the map of multinational companies. But even without it, the university town, with its manicured medieval centre and sprinkling of research institutes, would qualify as one of the east’s economic lighthouses.
Prognos, a business consultancy that publishes an annual economic ranking of Germany’s 439 municipalities, ranked Greifswald 101st this year, up from number 325 in 2004. That makes it the nation’s fastest growing town.
“We have the lowest unemployment rate in the entire state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern,” says Arthur König, Greifswald’s tanned and bearded mayor.
“In fact, our biggest concern is a scarcity of highly qualified workers.”
The same could be said of many of the east’s best-performing cities, where the supply of trained staff is not keeping up with the inflow of investors.
“This combination of persistently high unemployment and skills shortage is the one thing that worries me,” Mr Ludwig says.
“It is only a matter of time before this scarcity pushes wages higher.”
This should satisfy Berlin politicians’ acute sense of social justice, but for a region that is only beginning to reap the economic benefits of lower production costs, it would be bad news indeed.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
East German town has a new powerhouse role
By Bertrand Benoit in Greifswald
Published: June 29 2007 04:09 | Last updated: June 29 2007 04:09
From a distance, the Lubmin nuclear power station looks like any other industrial relic from Soviet-era East Germany. Its reactors have gone cold and its gutted buildings flake in the sun.
Frenzied activity inside its kilometre-long turbine hall tells a different story, however. Under a ballet of cranes, scores of workers are assembling steel hulls for the nearby shipyards.
Lubmin’s rehabilitation is an example of the quiet investment boom spreading through Germany’s former communist east.
“With costs in eastern Europe going up, the gap between eastern Germany and neighbouring countries has stopped widening,” says Udo Ludwig, senior economist at the IWH research institute in Halle. “Investors are waking up to this.”
The most recent official statistics are from 2005, when investments in the east took a sharp dip. But Mr Ludwig says they should have rebounded by at least 10 per cent last year, exceeding west German rates by a wide margin.
Economic growth in the region topped the west’s rate by 0.6 percentage points last year, he says, the first time this has happened since the early 1990s. Saxony, one of the east’s six states, had gross domestic product growth of 4 per cent, the fastest in the country.
Labour costs that are a third lower than in the west, a more flexible labour market, longer working hours and lower union membership are some of the factors behind this renaissance.
And that workforce is well trained. Potsdam near Berlin has the highest proportion of university graduates in the country.
Add the often superior transport infrastructure, modern and cheap office properties and a dense network of research institutions, and it is no wonder that many east German cities beat their west German counterparts in attracting industrial projects.
Though few German companies advertise the fact, many have been quietly moving functions from west to east, including Lufthansa, BASF and Siemens. Others have adopted two-tier offshoring strategies. Munich-based MTU Aero Engines is investing both in Poland and in Ludwigsfelde, in Brandenburg, eastern Germany.
“We are even seeing evidence of reverse offshoring,” says Solveigh Jäger, east Germany expert at the BDI industry federation. “German foundries, for instance, have been moving back from eastern Europe to eastern Germany.”
With east German industry now operating at close to capacity, the IWH expects capital goods investment to grow more than 5 per cent this and next year.
If all goes according to plan it is Lubmin that will get the biggest investment of all – a €5bn gas pipeline planned by Gasprom of Russia and Germany’s Eon and BASF. The link, scheduled for completion in 2011, will bring gas directly from Siberia’s gas fields to the former power station.
“When the pipeline news broke, the phone wouldn’t stop ringing,” says Dieter Rittscher, managing director of Energiewerke Nord, the state-owned company that is dismantling the nuclear plant and selling its land.
Investors have spent €200m on the site and planning applications are pending for €6.5bn – more than twice the cost of the decommissioning.
Behind the projects, which include two gas and one coal power stations, are investors such as Dong Energy of Denmark, EnBW, part-owned by EDF of France, and Wingas, a joint venture between Gasprom and BASF.
If all these plans come to fruition, Lubmin, which once supplied a tenth of the German Democratic Republic’s electricity, will reclaim its role as a national energy powerhouse.
The pipeline project may have put Greifswald, home to the Lubmin plant, on the map of multinational companies. But even without it, the university town, with its manicured medieval centre and sprinkling of research institutes, would qualify as one of the east’s economic lighthouses.
Prognos, a business consultancy that publishes an annual economic ranking of Germany’s 439 municipalities, ranked Greifswald 101st this year, up from number 325 in 2004. That makes it the nation’s fastest growing town.
“We have the lowest unemployment rate in the entire state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern,” says Arthur König, Greifswald’s tanned and bearded mayor.
“In fact, our biggest concern is a scarcity of highly qualified workers.”
The same could be said of many of the east’s best-performing cities, where the supply of trained staff is not keeping up with the inflow of investors.
“This combination of persistently high unemployment and skills shortage is the one thing that worries me,” Mr Ludwig says.
“It is only a matter of time before this scarcity pushes wages higher.”
This should satisfy Berlin politicians’ acute sense of social justice, but for a region that is only beginning to reap the economic benefits of lower production costs, it would be bad news indeed.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
FTD.de - Autoindustrie - Nachrichten - Porsche macht Druck auf VW
FTD.de - Autoindustrie - Nachrichten - Porsche macht Druck auf VW
Der Sportwagenhersteller Porsche peilt auch für das auslaufende Geschäftsjahr ein Rekordergebnis an - vor allem dank der VW-Beteiligung. Dennoch macht Vorstandschef Wendelin Wiedeking Druck. Zudem schilderte er, was Porsche zum Aufstocken der Anteile bewegte.
Der Sportwagenhersteller Porsche peilt auch für das auslaufende Geschäftsjahr ein Rekordergebnis an - vor allem dank der VW-Beteiligung. Dennoch macht Vorstandschef Wendelin Wiedeking Druck. Zudem schilderte er, was Porsche zum Aufstocken der Anteile bewegte.
FTD.de - Kommentare - Kommentar - Porsche muss die zweite Reihe stärken
FTD.de - Kommentare - Kommentar - Porsche muss die zweite Reihe stärken
Porsche ist mit der VW-Beteiligung ein anderes, größeres, wichtigeres Unternehmen geworden. Deshalb ist es richtig, die bisherigen Strukturen des einstigen Nischenanbieters für Sportwagen den neuen Aufgaben anzupassen - und dem Nachwuchs eine Chance zu geben.
Porsche ist mit der VW-Beteiligung ein anderes, größeres, wichtigeres Unternehmen geworden. Deshalb ist es richtig, die bisherigen Strukturen des einstigen Nischenanbieters für Sportwagen den neuen Aufgaben anzupassen - und dem Nachwuchs eine Chance zu geben.
FTD.de - Finanzdienstleister - Nachrichten - Etappensieg für ABN Amro bei LaSalle
FTD.de - Finanzdienstleister - Nachrichten - Etappensieg für ABN Amro bei LaSalle
Im Kampf gegen eine feindliche Übernahme hat die Bank ABN Amro einen wichtigen Etappensieg errungen. Der Generalanwalt der obersten niederländischen Gerichts sprach sich dafür aus, dass die Niederländer für den Verkauf ihrer US-Tochter LaSalle nicht die Zustimmung der Aktionäre einholen müssen.
Im Kampf gegen eine feindliche Übernahme hat die Bank ABN Amro einen wichtigen Etappensieg errungen. Der Generalanwalt der obersten niederländischen Gerichts sprach sich dafür aus, dass die Niederländer für den Verkauf ihrer US-Tochter LaSalle nicht die Zustimmung der Aktionäre einholen müssen.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
FTD.de - Europa - Nachrichten - Europäische Union überwindet Lähmung
FTD.de - Europa - Nachrichten - Europäische Union überwindet Lähmung
In einer Marathonsitzung haben sich die Staats- und Regierungschefs der EU auf den Weg zu einem neuen Grundlagenvertrag als Ersatz für die gescheiterte Verfassung geeinigt. Europa löse sich aus der Erstarrung und gewinne mehr Handlungsfähigkeit, sagte Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel (CDU) zum Ende des Gipfels.
In einer Marathonsitzung haben sich die Staats- und Regierungschefs der EU auf den Weg zu einem neuen Grundlagenvertrag als Ersatz für die gescheiterte Verfassung geeinigt. Europa löse sich aus der Erstarrung und gewinne mehr Handlungsfähigkeit, sagte Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel (CDU) zum Ende des Gipfels.
FT.com / Home UK / UK - Schäuble warns of raised terror threat in Germany
FT.com / Home UK / UK - Schäuble warns of raised terror threat in Germany
Schäuble warns of raised terror threat in Germany
By Hugh Williamsonin Berlin
Published: June 23 2007 03:00 | Last updated: June 23 2007 03:00
German authorities warned yesterday of an increased threat of Islamist terrorist attacks in the country, including by suicide bombers, based on new evidence similar to that obtained before the September 11 attacks on the US.
Wolfgang Schäuble, interior minister, said the threat "was serious", as officials called for increased vigilance by the public and by German troops and police in Afghanistan. A spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed, however, that there was no "concrete danger" and no need for panic.
The warning was based on evidence including a new terror video by the Taliban in Afghanistan, in which a group of masked alleged suicide bombers was instructed to go to Germany.
The video, made on June 9, according to German officials, also warns of suicide bombers travelling to the US, Canada and England. The video was broadcast recently by ABC, the UStelevision network.
This month, three Germans with suspected links to terrorist networks were arrested in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to German officials.
Up to a dozen alleged German extremists are believed to be in training camps on the Afghan border, the interior ministry says.
The warning was issued on Thursday evening in Berlin at a rare on-the-record intelligence briefing for journalists, and repeated yesterday by government officials and police.
August Hanning, deputy interior minister and former head of the BND intelligence agency, said the current situation was similar to summer 2001, "when obscure threats surfaced which as we know became reality".
Germany has not been the target of a big Islamic terrorist incident but three of the suicide pilots involved in the September 11 attacks had been living in Hamburg.
Mr Hanning warned that the evidence showed that "al-Qaeda is again operational in Afghanistan" adding that German troops, police and embassy staff were the prime targets.
The video linked the threat of suicide attacks to the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan. Mr Hanning said the threat could have been aimed at derailing a decision by the German parliament to extend the deployment of German troops in Afghanistan in the autumn. Three German soldiers in Afghanistan were last month killed by a suicide bomber.
Germany tightened its anti-terror laws after September 11, and several alleged plots to mount terrorist attacks have been prevented.
Last year planned attacks on several trains were thwarted, while in 2000 police in Frankfurt arrested several men allegedly planning an attack on the Strasbourg Christmas market.
Additional reporting by Friederike von Tiesenhausen Cave in Berlin
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Schäuble warns of raised terror threat in Germany
By Hugh Williamsonin Berlin
Published: June 23 2007 03:00 | Last updated: June 23 2007 03:00
German authorities warned yesterday of an increased threat of Islamist terrorist attacks in the country, including by suicide bombers, based on new evidence similar to that obtained before the September 11 attacks on the US.
Wolfgang Schäuble, interior minister, said the threat "was serious", as officials called for increased vigilance by the public and by German troops and police in Afghanistan. A spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed, however, that there was no "concrete danger" and no need for panic.
The warning was based on evidence including a new terror video by the Taliban in Afghanistan, in which a group of masked alleged suicide bombers was instructed to go to Germany.
The video, made on June 9, according to German officials, also warns of suicide bombers travelling to the US, Canada and England. The video was broadcast recently by ABC, the UStelevision network.
This month, three Germans with suspected links to terrorist networks were arrested in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to German officials.
Up to a dozen alleged German extremists are believed to be in training camps on the Afghan border, the interior ministry says.
The warning was issued on Thursday evening in Berlin at a rare on-the-record intelligence briefing for journalists, and repeated yesterday by government officials and police.
August Hanning, deputy interior minister and former head of the BND intelligence agency, said the current situation was similar to summer 2001, "when obscure threats surfaced which as we know became reality".
Germany has not been the target of a big Islamic terrorist incident but three of the suicide pilots involved in the September 11 attacks had been living in Hamburg.
Mr Hanning warned that the evidence showed that "al-Qaeda is again operational in Afghanistan" adding that German troops, police and embassy staff were the prime targets.
The video linked the threat of suicide attacks to the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan. Mr Hanning said the threat could have been aimed at derailing a decision by the German parliament to extend the deployment of German troops in Afghanistan in the autumn. Three German soldiers in Afghanistan were last month killed by a suicide bomber.
Germany tightened its anti-terror laws after September 11, and several alleged plots to mount terrorist attacks have been prevented.
Last year planned attacks on several trains were thwarted, while in 2000 police in Frankfurt arrested several men allegedly planning an attack on the Strasbourg Christmas market.
Additional reporting by Friederike von Tiesenhausen Cave in Berlin
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
FTD.de - Europa - Nachrichten - Merkel will EU-Reform notfalls ohne Polen vorantreiben
FTD.de - Europa - Nachrichten - Merkel will EU-Reform notfalls ohne Polen vorantreiben
Die deutsche EU-Ratspräsidentschaft will den Fahrplan für eine EU-Reform auch gegen den Willen Polens beschließen lassen. Kanzlerin Angela Merkel (CDU) reagierte damit auf die Ablehnung eines letzten Kompromissangebots. Die Begründung der Kanzlerin: Europa müsse vorwärtskommen.
Die deutsche EU-Ratspräsidentschaft will den Fahrplan für eine EU-Reform auch gegen den Willen Polens beschließen lassen. Kanzlerin Angela Merkel (CDU) reagierte damit auf die Ablehnung eines letzten Kompromissangebots. Die Begründung der Kanzlerin: Europa müsse vorwärtskommen.
FTD.de - Europa - Chronologie - Eine Geschichte des Scheiterns
FTD.de - Europa - Chronologie - Eine Geschichte des Scheiterns
Die EU-Verfassung ist gescheitert. Und doch wollen die deutsche Ratspräsidentschaft und die meisten anderen Mitgliedstaaten die 2004 vereinbarten Reformen der EU-Institutionen möglichst eins zu eins übernehmen. Ein Rückblick auf den Verfassungsprozess.
Die EU-Verfassung ist gescheitert. Und doch wollen die deutsche Ratspräsidentschaft und die meisten anderen Mitgliedstaaten die 2004 vereinbarten Reformen der EU-Institutionen möglichst eins zu eins übernehmen. Ein Rückblick auf den Verfassungsprozess.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Bund - Politik - FAZ.NET - Große Koalition: Struck greift Merkel an
Bund - Politik - FAZ.NET - Große Koalition: Struck greift Merkel an
21. Juni 2007
Im Streit über den Mindestlohn hat der SPD-Fraktionsvorsitzende Peter Struck Kanzlerin Angela Merkel persönlich angegriffen. Merkel hätte einsehen müssen, dass es darum gehe, ein soziales Problem zu lösen, sagte Struck der Zeitung „Neuen Presse“ aus Hannover.
Es könne nicht sein, dass Menschen den ganzen Tag arbeiten und trotzdem auf staatliche Hilfe angewiesen seien. Er sei empört über die Verweigerung der CDU. Die SPD will das Thema laut Struck weiter vorantreiben. Es soll eine zentrale Rolle im Bundestagswahlkampf spielen. Nach der Einigung im Koalitionsausschuss das Entsendegesetz auf weiter Branchen auszuweiten, hatte auch Vizekanzler und Arbeitsmioister Franz Müntefering (SPD), kaum versteckte Kritik an der Kanzlerin geübt. (Siehe auch: Koalition: Münteferings kontrollierter Ausbruch)
21. Juni 2007
Im Streit über den Mindestlohn hat der SPD-Fraktionsvorsitzende Peter Struck Kanzlerin Angela Merkel persönlich angegriffen. Merkel hätte einsehen müssen, dass es darum gehe, ein soziales Problem zu lösen, sagte Struck der Zeitung „Neuen Presse“ aus Hannover.
Es könne nicht sein, dass Menschen den ganzen Tag arbeiten und trotzdem auf staatliche Hilfe angewiesen seien. Er sei empört über die Verweigerung der CDU. Die SPD will das Thema laut Struck weiter vorantreiben. Es soll eine zentrale Rolle im Bundestagswahlkampf spielen. Nach der Einigung im Koalitionsausschuss das Entsendegesetz auf weiter Branchen auszuweiten, hatte auch Vizekanzler und Arbeitsmioister Franz Müntefering (SPD), kaum versteckte Kritik an der Kanzlerin geübt. (Siehe auch: Koalition: Münteferings kontrollierter Ausbruch)
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
FTD.de - Deutschland - Nachrichten - SPD scheitert bei Mindestlohn, Pflegebeitrag steigt
FTD.de - Deutschland - Nachrichten - SPD scheitert bei Mindestlohn, Pflegebeitrag steigt
Der Beitragssatz zur Pflegeversicherung soll zum 1. Juli 2008 um 0,25 Prozentpunkte steigen. Das gaben die Spitzen der Großen Koalition nach einem zähen Verhandlungsmarathon bekannt. Beim Mindestlohn reichte es lediglich für einen Minimalkonsens.
Der Beitragssatz zur Pflegeversicherung soll zum 1. Juli 2008 um 0,25 Prozentpunkte steigen. Das gaben die Spitzen der Großen Koalition nach einem zähen Verhandlungsmarathon bekannt. Beim Mindestlohn reichte es lediglich für einen Minimalkonsens.
FTD.de - Deutschland - Nachrichten - Experten sehen Aufschwung ausgereizt
FTD.de - Deutschland - Nachrichten - Experten sehen Aufschwung ausgereizt
Die deutsche Wirtschaft läuft zwar rund, das Wachstumstempo wird sich nach Einschätzung von Finanzmarktexperten jedoch nicht mehr erhöhen. Entsprechend hat sich der ZEW-Konjunkturindex im Mai leicht eingetrübt.
Die deutsche Wirtschaft läuft zwar rund, das Wachstumstempo wird sich nach Einschätzung von Finanzmarktexperten jedoch nicht mehr erhöhen. Entsprechend hat sich der ZEW-Konjunkturindex im Mai leicht eingetrübt.
Monday, June 18, 2007
F.A.Z.-Kommentare - Politik - FAZ.NET - „Die Linke“: PDS - mit Lafontaine
F.A.Z.-Kommentare - Politik - FAZ.NET - „Die Linke“: PDS - mit Lafontaine
18. Juni 2007
Eine Revolution, auch eine friedliche, ist keine Bombe. Die DDR ging unter, der Kommunismus als real existierende Staats- und Gesellschaftsform war delegitimiert. Aber was ist eigentlich mit denen, die daran geglaubt, dafür gearbeitet, daran gehangen haben?
18. Juni 2007
Eine Revolution, auch eine friedliche, ist keine Bombe. Die DDR ging unter, der Kommunismus als real existierende Staats- und Gesellschaftsform war delegitimiert. Aber was ist eigentlich mit denen, die daran geglaubt, dafür gearbeitet, daran gehangen haben?
FTD.de - IT+Telekommunikation - Nachrichten - Telekom und Verdi setzen Gespräche fort
FTD.de - IT+Telekommunikation - Nachrichten - Telekom und Verdi setzen Gespräche fort
Im wochenlangen Streik bei der Deutschen Telekom gibt es eine Annäherung mit der Gewerkschaft Verdi. Die Verhandlungspartner wollen die Gespräche über den geplanten Konzernumbau fortsetzen.
Im wochenlangen Streik bei der Deutschen Telekom gibt es eine Annäherung mit der Gewerkschaft Verdi. Die Verhandlungspartner wollen die Gespräche über den geplanten Konzernumbau fortsetzen.
FTD.de - Deutschland - Nachrichten - Glos fordert milliardenschweres Konjunkturprogramm
FTD.de - Deutschland - Nachrichten - Glos fordert milliardenschweres Konjunkturprogramm
Wirtschaftsminister Michael Glos (CSU) will den Aufschwung in den nächsten fünf Jahren mit einem 70 Mrd. Euro schweren Konjunkturprogramm stützen. So könnten die Lohnnebenkosten oder die Einkommenssteuer sinken.
Wirtschaftsminister Michael Glos (CSU) will den Aufschwung in den nächsten fünf Jahren mit einem 70 Mrd. Euro schweren Konjunkturprogramm stützen. So könnten die Lohnnebenkosten oder die Einkommenssteuer sinken.
FT.com / World - Germany’s new political party is born
FT.com / World - Germany’s new political party is born
Germany’s new political party is born
By Hugh Williamson in Berlin
Published: June 18 2007 21:42 | Last updated: June 18 2007 21:42
Germany’s main political parties on Monday reacted with bluster and a show of nerves to the birth of a new political force, the Left party, which could shake up the country’s political architecture.
The Left party – which on Sunday completed a two-year merger process between the east German ex-communist PDS, and a west German leftwing splinter party – has overnight become Germany’s largest opposition party, with 72,000 members.
Its founding also cements the trend whereby political power in parliament is divided among five parties, making coalition-building trickier than during most of Germany’s postwar history, when there were only three or four parties in parliament.
Peter Struck, parliamentary leader of the Social Democrats, said the Left party was “all hot air and no substance”, while Edmund Stoiber, Bavarian conservative state premier, attacked the party for being led by a “dangerous demagogue”.
He was referring to Oskar Lafontaine, former SPD chairman and finance minister, whose decision in 2005 to work with the PDS was the impulse for the new party.
SPD leaders acknowledged they were unsure whether to distance themselves from the new party, shift to the left to reduce its support, or consider the long-term option of building a parliamentary alliance with the Left party.
Mr Struck admitted that the SPD was “at present having difficulty in exposing the true nature” of the Left party.
The SPD said on Monday that no national-level coalition would be formed with the Left party “in 2009 [after national elections] or for some time thereafter” because of gaping differences especially on foreign policy. The leftwing group wants to end German military deployments in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
SPD officials argue the Left party remains dominated by elderly ex-communists with roots in East Germany who are unwilling to embrace reform policies. Around half of the party’s members are eastern Germans over 65 years old.
In contrast, the mood among Left party leaders was upbeat. Speaking in the party’s east Berlin headquarters – in the 1930s home of Germany’s Communist party – Dietmar Bartsch, Left party managing director, said it was ready to talk with the SPD “if conditions were right”.
Mr Bartsch said the SPD was already moving leftwards, for instance in its demand for a minimum wage – “a Left party election pledge in 2005”, he said.
Several prominent SPD politicians have backed the idea of, in the long term, opening coalition talks with the Left party, with the departure of Mr Lafontaine from the Left party leadership – expected by 2010 – the most likely starting point.
The SPD already works with the Left party in the Berlin city government and elsewhere. Last month the Left party for the first time won seats in a west German state assembly, in Bremen.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Germany’s new political party is born
By Hugh Williamson in Berlin
Published: June 18 2007 21:42 | Last updated: June 18 2007 21:42
Germany’s main political parties on Monday reacted with bluster and a show of nerves to the birth of a new political force, the Left party, which could shake up the country’s political architecture.
The Left party – which on Sunday completed a two-year merger process between the east German ex-communist PDS, and a west German leftwing splinter party – has overnight become Germany’s largest opposition party, with 72,000 members.
Its founding also cements the trend whereby political power in parliament is divided among five parties, making coalition-building trickier than during most of Germany’s postwar history, when there were only three or four parties in parliament.
Peter Struck, parliamentary leader of the Social Democrats, said the Left party was “all hot air and no substance”, while Edmund Stoiber, Bavarian conservative state premier, attacked the party for being led by a “dangerous demagogue”.
He was referring to Oskar Lafontaine, former SPD chairman and finance minister, whose decision in 2005 to work with the PDS was the impulse for the new party.
SPD leaders acknowledged they were unsure whether to distance themselves from the new party, shift to the left to reduce its support, or consider the long-term option of building a parliamentary alliance with the Left party.
Mr Struck admitted that the SPD was “at present having difficulty in exposing the true nature” of the Left party.
The SPD said on Monday that no national-level coalition would be formed with the Left party “in 2009 [after national elections] or for some time thereafter” because of gaping differences especially on foreign policy. The leftwing group wants to end German military deployments in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
SPD officials argue the Left party remains dominated by elderly ex-communists with roots in East Germany who are unwilling to embrace reform policies. Around half of the party’s members are eastern Germans over 65 years old.
In contrast, the mood among Left party leaders was upbeat. Speaking in the party’s east Berlin headquarters – in the 1930s home of Germany’s Communist party – Dietmar Bartsch, Left party managing director, said it was ready to talk with the SPD “if conditions were right”.
Mr Bartsch said the SPD was already moving leftwards, for instance in its demand for a minimum wage – “a Left party election pledge in 2005”, he said.
Several prominent SPD politicians have backed the idea of, in the long term, opening coalition talks with the Left party, with the departure of Mr Lafontaine from the Left party leadership – expected by 2010 – the most likely starting point.
The SPD already works with the Left party in the Berlin city government and elsewhere. Last month the Left party for the first time won seats in a west German state assembly, in Bremen.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Saturday, June 16, 2007
FTD.de - Deutschland - Nachrichten - Linkspartei und WASG beschließen Fusion
FTD.de - Deutschland - Nachrichten - Linkspartei und WASG beschließen Fusion
In Deutschland gibt es eine neue linke Partei: Die ostdeutsche Linkspartei und die westdeutsche Wahlalternative Arbeit und soziale Gerechtigkeit (WASG) haben einmütig ihre historische Fusion vollzogen. Das Votum für die neue Doppelspitze war nicht so eindeutig.
In Deutschland gibt es eine neue linke Partei: Die ostdeutsche Linkspartei und die westdeutsche Wahlalternative Arbeit und soziale Gerechtigkeit (WASG) haben einmütig ihre historische Fusion vollzogen. Das Votum für die neue Doppelspitze war nicht so eindeutig.
Friday, June 15, 2007
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