FACED WITH disastrous poll ratings, German deputy leader Guido Westerwelle is under growing pressure to consider his position as leader of the junior coalition partner, the Free Democratic Party (FDP).
Public approval has slumped by three-quarters after just a year in power, prompting a warning that the party risked going the way of the former East Germany’s leaders.
“The situation in which we find ourselves reminds me of the disastrous late stages of the GDR,” said Wolfgang Kubicki, FDP leader in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein. “All of a sudden they were no longer there. The leadership could not grasp that, right up to the end. It could happen that the FDP would implode, too.”
The remark caused uproar but had the desired effect, triggering a discussion about whether, after nearly 10 years in charge, it is time for the divisive Mr Westerwelle to concentrate on being foreign minister.
Party rank and file are growing nervous ahead of a bumper election year in 2011, with regional polls in seven of Germany’s 16 federal states.
The party is facing one electoral wipeout after another after failing to deliver promised across-the- bord tax cuts that lifted it to power in 2009.
Two FDP regional branches facing elections in March have called on Mr Westerwelle to go. “Help the party by subordinating your personal interests,” wrote FDP deputies in the south-western Baden-Württemberg in an open letter to their leader. In neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate, FDP candidate Herbert Mertin described the leader as “dead weight”.
Senior FDP figures meeting earlier this week discussed the prospect of removing Mr Westerwelle at their January 6th conference.
But the nervousness has spread to the party front bench, with senior figures sending ambiguous remarks after initial shows of support.
“In this situation there are two things you can do: support or topple,” said FDP development minister Dirk Niebel, adding that he “knew of no better election campaigner”.
Economics minister Reiner Brüderle appeared to raise the sensitive tax issue in a newspaper interview. “The people expect us to work for the agenda for which we were elected,” he said, promising that the party “will overcome this difficult situation as a team”.
He is the only senior figure considered a likely replacement but, at 65, is viewed by many as an interim candidate.