Open Road

Wednesday Sep 2nd 2009

German election campaign update: More boring than Brown

Germany will see a general election by the end of this month but the current campaign is as boring as ever. Gordon Brown on holiday manages to be more exciting than Angela Merkel and Frank-Walter Steinmeier combined and very little is happening elsewhere. In their desperate attempts to discuss anything but policy the main parties turn to each other and on lobbyists producing at best, mild excitement.


Merkel vs. Steinmeier

It was briefly amusing to watch scuffles between the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, the CSU (slightly more left-wing on social issues than the Tories), and the FDP (considerably more right-wing than the LibDems on social issues). Both accused the other of being unfit to govern, a silly argument since the chances of either getting the chance to do so outside of coalition with the other are slim. That is unless the CDU/CSU continues in the Grand Coalition with the SPD (which neither the FDP, CSU, CDU nor in fact the SPD want).

The CDU tried to push the SPD into an expenses scandal after social democrat Health Secretary Ulla Schmidt took her official government car (and the driver, and his son) on her holiday to Spain. While it is certainly questionable whether a Secretary of State needs an Audi A8 to pay an official visit to some retired expats in Spain, the entire undertaking took place “according to the rules”. And who wouldn’t want to be driven around in an Audi A8?

Understandably, the SPD was anything but happy that Ulla’s Spanish holiday generated bigger news than the publication of its election programme and plotted revenge. How handy it was that the Conservative-led Economic Department had decided to outsource the drafting of a bank rescue scheme to Linklaters. Linklaters, – not only a corporate entity but also a British one, making it neo-liberal and by definition evil in the eyes of German lefties.

The outsourcing produced some stir in the media, enabling the organisation Lobby Control to secure considerable media coverage by criticising the German lobby state. Good for Lobby Control, but the Conservative parties couldn’t have cared less. Their (relatively new) Economic Secretary is Dr. Karl-Theodor Freiherr zu Guttenberg, who is not only an aristocrat but also speaks English. While you might say, “So what? We have loads of those guys in Britain,” Germany does not, making Mr Guttenberg incredibly popular and also beyond criticism.

The SPD thus had to whip out plan B. Some digging revealed that Chancellor Merkel held a dinner party in the Kanzleramt (the German equivalent to Number 10). Nothing unusual for a head of government? Depends on your point of view.

According to the Chancellery, Ms. Merkel had a nice conversation with leading members of the business community over schnitzel and cold asparagus. According to the SPD and the left-wing opposition parties, Ms Merkel organised a private birthday party for Josef Ackermann, the CEO of Deutsche Bank (not English, but still a corporate multinational). Ackermann picked the guests and the German taxpayer footed the bill.

The guest list was short, but it featured a range of high profile names from the from business and showbiz, -exactly the sort of people you don’t want round for a bash during a recession. But the cold asparagus and schnitzel must have seemed appropriately frugal, as the affair hasn’t damaged Ms Merkel’s persona in the short term. The longer term remains to be seen.

I remain curious about what will happen to all these little scandals once the German public has been herded to the polling stations on September 27th. Will they reappear? Will Germany finally have its very own discussion on politicians’ expenses and the access and influence of lobbyists? The odds have definitely shortened now; very few members of the public believe you get an invitation to the Kanzleramt for free.