Word: chancellor
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...dissension that has plagued the government of West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and his embattled Social Democratic Party (S.P.D.) had reached epic dimensions. For months, the often abrasive Schmidt had struggled to hold together his troubled ruling coalition amid signs that its junior partner of 13 years, the Free Democratic Party, was preparing to bolt the government. Last week, in a crossfire of public recriminations, four Free Democratic Cabinet members, including Party Leader Hans-Dietrich Genscher, who was also Schmidt's Foreign Minister, resigned their portfolios...
...tense appearance at Bonn's spacious, glass-enclosed parliament building, a grave-looking Chancellor went before the Bundestag to announce the breakup of the coalition and to call for new elections. Said Schmidt: "In the interest of our country, in the interest of our parliamentary democracy, I cannot and will not stand by and watch the effectiveness and standing of the government being wrecked." Conceding that his party "could lose some feathers" in an election, he declared, "I am convinced that the electorate will understand and prefer this course...
...perhaps the final act by a leader West Germans had celebrated as der Macher (the Doer). Schmidt has played a key role in steering the nation to unprecedented prosperity and international respect during his 30 years in politics, eight of them as Chancellor. True to form, in one swift, decisive action Schmidt had moved to break West Germany's festering political crisis and shouldered the responsibility of bringing about the collapse of his own government. In so doing, he paved the way for his probable replacement by Christian Democratic Opposition Leader Helmut Kohl...
Faced with open rebellion, the Chancellor decided to act. Without warning Genscher, he met with President Karl Carstens and informed him that he intended to call for new elections. Schmidt's strategy was a long shot. First, he would have to ask for a vote of confidence in the Bundestag. By instructing S.P.D. members of parliament to abstain, he would arrange to lose the vote. Schmidt could then call for new elections, which would have to be held within 60 days. But there was one catch. Schmidt would need Opposition Leader Kohl's support for new elections. Otherwise...
Knowing that his own fate was sealed, Schmidt proceeded with his plan to ask all parties to agree to a call for new elections and to accept his minority leadership in the interim. Kohl lost no time rejecting what he pointedly called the Chancellor's "intrigue." Instead, the C.D.U. leader bluntly called on Schmidt to step aside. Said he: "It is your patriotic duty to resign. Our people need a new start and we are ready to provide it." Added a member of the Christian Social Union: "We are not going to play the Chancellor's game...