GERMANY: Germany's Christian Democrats (CDU) leader, Dr Angela Merkel, suffered an embarrassing setback yesterday in her attempt to steady her wobbly front bench writes Derek Scally in Berlin.
Former party leader Dr Wolfgang Schäuble snubbed an offer to become her deputy, following the resignation of her number two last week.
Dr Schäuble took over as leader from Dr Helmut Kohl after the CDU's 1998 election defeat, but was forced to resign in the fall-out over the politician donations scandal surrounding the former chancellor.
Since Dr Merkel became leader, Dr Schäuble has become a tragic figure in the party, always mentioned whenever a position becomes available but inevitably passed over. He was the favourite to become the next German president until Dr Merkel intervened and pushed through her own favourite candidate, the former International Monetary Fund director, Mr Horst Köhler.
Dr Schäuble got his revenge yesterday, rebuffing his successor's approach, saying he would prefer to remain the party's foreign affairs spokesman.
Dr Schäuble's snub was an unpromising start to the week after last week's debacles. The party has been caught up in an internal feud over healthcare reforms with its sister party, the Bavarian Christian Social Union.
Meanwhile, Dr Merkel backed a petition against Turkey's EU accession but was forced to withdraw after the only party to support the idea was the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party.
Leading CDU figures speculated at the weekend that there is a plot by a group of CDU/CSU politicians to topple Dr Merkel before the 2006 general election. The prime suspects all rushed to publicly support her yesterday.
Dr Merkel's difficulties have been accompanied by a dramatic slide in the opinion polls. For the first time in over a year, the latest polls show that the CDU would no longer be able to form a majority government with the liberal Free Democrats, its traditional coalition ally.