Word: brandts
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
West Germany's election is a year ahead of schedule, and was called as a last resort to break a paralyzing tie vote in the Bundestag. There, Brandt and his coalition partners, the Free Democrats, led by Walter Scheel, could command only 248 votes-exactly the same number mustered by Barzel and his allies, the Christian Social Union, which flourishes in Bavaria under Franz Josef Strauss. Originally, Brandt had enjoyed a 254-242 margin; the gradual defection of six Bundestag members, however, reduced that to a tie. Brandt, in consequence, could no longer govern or even get his budget...
...opening round of his campaign last week, Brandt boarded a special eight-car maroon train for a whistle-stopping tour through Kassel, the small medieval towns of Eschwege and Northeim, and on to Hanover and Wiesbaden. He assured listeners in the towns bordering East Germany that "each little step toward peace has helped," and prophesied that within a few years families separated by the frontier would soon be able to visit freely again. "We need all the votes we can get," he told the large and enthusiastic crowds. "Help me, my friends." His audiences responded with a chant: "Willy, Willy...
...Brandt began his campaign in the border towns in part to point up the chief accomplishment of his three-year-old government. As he can justly boast, he has reduced "tension and confrontation" between the two Germanys and between the East and West blocs. By signing treaties with Moscow and Warsaw that renounced Germany's old land claims-and by accepting the division of Germany into what Bonn now refers to as "two states in one nation" -Brandt led the way toward détente in Europe. His early initiatives eventually led to a four-power agreement on Berlin...
...Brandt's campaign will blend Social Democratic achievements in foreign policy with a defense of less spectacular domestic efforts. "We made peace more secure; we came closer to the Germans in the G.D.R.," he pointed out in an interview with TIME Correspondent Bruce Nelan last week at the Chancellor's Palais Schaumburg office. "Our policy toward Eastern Europe serves our own national interests as well as the overall efforts of the Western alliance. How could voters possibly trust them [the C.D.U.-C.S.U.] to carry on this foreign policy, trust those who rejected almost everything that Washington, London, Paris...
...about inflation, beyond limiting government spending. He instead appears to be relying on the reputation of his party for prudent management. But Barzel's election could conceivably fuel a new round of price increases, since West Germany's unions, which have been remarkably restrained under Social Democrat Brandt, would feel no obligation to temper their demands if Barzel was in power...