Word: fdp
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, East and West Germans are becoming more similar in their political preferences. Parties that used to be typical West German parties, such as the Greens and the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), now have significant support in the former East. And Die Linke, an amalgam of the former East German ruling Communist Party and disgruntled Social Democrats, is gaining ground among left-leaning voters in the former West. Voters who were once loyal to a single party have become swing voters, with the main parties taking the hit. The ruling Christian Democratic...
...more difficult to form the kinds of stable coalitions that Germany has gotten so used to of late. Sunday's elections demonstrate the trend at the state level, with potential coalitions - such as a government of Social Democrats, Die Linke and the Greens or one linking the CDU, the FDP and the Greens - being considered. But the states also tend to operate as political laboratories for the federal government, and any new coalition combinations will be closely watched as potential models in the aftermath of the federal election on Sept...
...Meanwhile, there was a strong showing from some of the country's smaller parties. The Green Party won 12% of the vote, and the Left Party, successor to East Germany's Communist Party, took 7.5% of the vote. But the real winner was the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP), which won its best-ever result in a European election, with 11% of the vote. The FDP, under its outspoken leader Guido Westerwelle, is Merkel's preferred coalition partner. Their combined results leave Merkel's Conservatives and the FDP just short of the 50% they would need in September should...
...Hesse results are mirrored in September, Merkel is likely to form a coalition with the FDP, in many ways an easier proposition than governing in grand coalition as she has done since 2005. But the strength of the FDP will make it harder now for Merkel to act quickly to counter the growing economic and financial crisis. The grand coalition of CDU/CSU and SPD unites the biggest parties in the center and the left of the political spectrum and has until now wielded sufficient power to pass laws in the lower house of parliament and then rubber stamp them...
...five state governments, the FDP has elbowed its way up to the table and can block laws in the upper house. FDP chairman Guido Westerwelle, who meets Merkel this week for talks, is eager to test his new power by forcing Merkel to revise her €50 billion economic stimulus package to include deeper income tax cuts and fewer cash incentives to consumers, such as the €2,500 handout designed to persuade Germans to trade in their old cars for new models. Whether or not Westerwelle prevails, the shifting balance of power will have an impact in Germany...