Word: bonneli
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...Bonn, the construction of coalitions gets complicated...
...staid predictability of Bonn politics quickly took on the intrigue of a Florentine court last week. Initially, Kohl was confident that former Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher, leader of the centrist Free Democrats who bolted Schmidt's government, could deliver at least 33 votes from his party's 51 members of parliament. This total would provide Kohl 259 votes, when added to the 226 of his coalition. Schmidt's S.P.D. has only 215 seats, and depended on heavy Free Democrat support to stay in office. Kohl and Genscher had been talking quietly of creating a new center...
Strauss insists that he is not trying to spoil Kohl's chances. His motive, instead, is to gain as much clout as possible within the new coalition at the expense of Genscher's Free Democrats. After arriving in Bonn last week, Strauss declared: "It is high time that the F.D.P. learned moderation and modesty from its decline." With opinion polls showing that 52.7% of West German voters now support the Christian Democrats, Strauss believes the time is ripe to form a government without the F.D.P. He also has his eye on the posts of Vice Chancellor and Foreign...
...Genscher, Kohl favors NATO's plans for the deployment of new nuclear missiles next year. He is not expected to be any more receptive than Schmidt to U.S. demands for higher defense spending. Though some officials in the Reagan Administration hope that a more conservative government in Bonn will be easier to deal with on such touchy issues as sanctions against the Soviet Union, most experts consider Kohl just as committed as Schmidt to detente and East-West trade. While quibbling about details, the Christian Democrats have generally supported Schmidt's decision to help finance the controversial Soviet...
...Schmidt. Said former British Chancellor of the Exchequer Denis Healey last week: "Helmut Schmidt is the only Western leader at the moment who has experience, a policy and imagination. He will leave a very serious gap." Still, Schmidt's departure should not weaken the bonds between London and Bonn. Though Schmidt and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher enjoyed good personal relations, Britain's Conservative Party is ideologically closer to West Germany's Christian Democrats. The opposite will be true for France. During his summer holidays, President Francois Mitterrand is said to have been telling friends that...