GERMANY’S Free Democrats (FDP) are to meet in emergency session tomorrow after a dramatic slump in support, just 100 days after taking office with German chancellor Angela Merkel.
With key reform plans blocked by Dr Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU), the smaller liberal party has seen its support fall from 14.6 per cent in September’s general election to just 8 per cent.
“I won’t allow myself to be distracted by opinion polls,” said party leader Guido Westerwelle yesterday. “Clarity, of course, and language will remain the trademarks of our time in office. No one can expect us to turn around in 100 days everything done wrong in Germany in the last 11 years.”
The party entered government last year with plans to stimulate the economy with €57 billion in tax cuts. But the CDU has longfingered this idea in light of record borrowing in this year’s budget.
Meanwhile, an FDP plan for a radical reform of Germany’s indebted healthcare system, introducing a flat insurance premium irrespective of income, is opposed by three-quarters of voters, according to a public television poll.
Just a third of voters are impressed with Mr Westerwelle as foreign minister, while some 61 per cent of voters are satisfied with Dr Merkel – a relatively low result for the one-time popular leader.
Some 55 per cent of those surveyed think the new government is less effective than the previous grand coalition.
Prof Nils Diederich, political scientist at Berlin’s Free University, said the government was suffering from an identity crisis and a lack of direction.
“The FDP want major tax breaks and tax reform. But on the other hand, more spending is needed to tackle the economic crisis,” he said. “No one has come up with a plan to solve this problem without jeopardising the already bloated budget deficit.”