Just over a week after he led his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to its worst election result for half a century, Dr Helmut Kohl is coming under increasing fire from within his own ranks. As the party leadership met in Bonn yesterday to discuss the election defeat, a number of regional leaders called on Dr Kohl to relinquish all influence within the CDU.
"The party must immediately and at all costs distance itself from Kohl," said Mr Kajo Schommer, economics minister in the eastern state of Saxony.
Dr Kohl controlled the CDU with a tight grip for 25 years through a network of loyal followers in every regional branch. His leadership was characterised by the ruthlessness with which he crushed internal dissent.
When the chancellor announced last week he was stepping down as party chairman, he swiftly persuaded the rest of the leadership to approve the CDU parliamentary leader, Mr Wolfgang Schauble, as his successor.
Mr Schauble is almost certain to be elected chairman at a party conference on November 7th but many within the party resent the influence of the outgoing chancellor on the party's future.
"It is not acceptable that Kohl should once again determine what's going to happen," complained Mr Christian Wulff, the CDU leader in Lower Saxony.
Mr Wulff is one of a number of regional leaders known as "the young wild ones" who are in the forefront of the anti-Kohl backlash. Mostly middle-aged men in suits, the young wild ones want the CDU to lurch to the right and to adopt a harsh, neo-liberal economic policy.
They regard Mr Schauble (56) as an interim leader who will have little hope of unseating Mr Gerhard Schroder as chancellor in 2002. Many party activists fear that, if the new government remains popular, next year's 15 elections at local, state and European level could be a disaster for the CDU.
Dr Kohl's supporters are especially angry at the internal attacks on the outgoing chancellor in view of the generous praise heaped upon him by Mr Schroder at the weekend. Dr Kohl was moved to tears by a tribute to him made by the chancellor-elect at a ceremony in Hanover to mark the anniversary of German unification.
The outgoing Bundestag president, Ms Rita Sussmuth, yesterday told the chancellor's critics to show more respect for the man who led them to four election victories.
"It is totally unacceptable when the Social Democrats praise the chancellor and we denigrate him," she said.
