SUPPORT FOR Chancellor Angela Merkel’s centre-right coalition government has hit a new low, with just one in five Germans happy with the coalition’s work.
A public television poll shows that 78 per cent of Germans unhappy with the first seven months of Dr Merkel’s centre-right government.
Moreover, voters have given a clear thumbs down on Berlin’s handling of the euro stability fund, with nearly thirds of Germans (64 per cent) opposed.
Most alarming for the German leader, however, is the dire health of her liberal coalition partner, the Free Democrats (FDP).
After hitting a record high of nearly 15 per cent in last September’s general election, support has halved for the party led by Guido Westerwelle.
Now the FDP faces policy and personality problems as inseparable as the party is from the personality of Mr Westerwelle.
He was the clear winner of the election after running an energetic one-man campaign that focused on one issue: €16 billion in income tax cuts.
Then, earlier this month, Mr Westerwelle and other FDP watched as Dr Merkel, citing fiscal shortfalls, cancelled the planned cuts via a press conference, without consulting them.
In the FDP camp, that has started rivals old and new circling around Mr Westerwelle, suggesting he needs to resign as party leader and concentrate on being foreign minister.
Former party leader Wolfgang Gerhardt, sidelined by Mr Westerwelle, has attacked his successor for allowing himself to be bullied by Dr Merkel over the tax cuts.
“She cannot just shove one of our central projects to one side using a decree,” said Mr Gerhardt in a newspaper interview.
“The chancellor should have been told early on that the FDP parliamentary party cannot go into the next general election without having realised its taxation promises.”
An irritated Mr Westerwelle snapped back that he was “grateful for all advice received, just not through the media”.
Joining the critical chorus is Bavarian FDP leader and federal justice minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger.
She has called for an urgent rethink of the FDP’s political strategy, to open the party to coalitions with parties other than the CDU.
With tax cuts off the table and the party’s direction under fire, Mr Westerwelle urgently needs another project to save face.
The only likely proposal, a radical FDP overhaul of Germany’s cash-strapped health system, is already dead in the water.
The controversial plan would have scrapped existing health insurance payments – calculated as a percentage of salary – in favour of a flat fee.
But the idea has been ruled out as too radical and a danger to the social peace by moderates in the CDU.
Asked by Die Zeitnewspaper what the party plans to do until the next election, the party's general secretary Christian Lindner admitted: "I don't know", before hastily adding "yet".
Mr Lindner is being touted as the party’s next big hope and, possibly, its next leader.
Though a gifted public speaker, the 31-year-old is only a few months in the job and lacks experience in Berlin, like nearly everyone in the FDP front bench bar Mr Westerwelle himself.
FDP backbenchers are in a dilemma: their frustration and fear for their futures are growing but, at least for now, they see no alternative to Mr Westerwelle.
At next week’s cabinet retreat, Mr Westerwelle will have to act quickly to counter the growing impression that the FDP is a write-off.
Yesterday’s poll suggested it might be too late, with some 58 per cent of voters favouring another grand coalition between Dr Merkel’s CDU and the opposition Social Democrats (SPD).