Reacciones a la elección de Merkel

German Newspapers* Desde Spiegel

Center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

"In the grand coalition the chancellor profited strongly from the fact that the SPD forced her to ditch the radical reform agenda she announced at the Leipzig party conference in 2003. It's the best thing that could have happened to Merkel. She moved to the middle, which she can now defend very publicly against the demands of her new partners. Does anyone really believe that Merkel will take back anything she agreed to in the grand coalition? After this election Angela Merkel is even stronger than the election results show. Guido Westerwelle won't dare to gamble away the little bit of power that he's attained. The only thing the chancellor lacks is an opposition that can live up to its democratic role of being able to replace the government at any point. This shortcoming makes clear the full extent of Merkel's victory."

"The SPD will recover from its debacle. It won't die. But Sunday's disaster will make it shift to the left. It will establish a profile to counter the center-right government, which means that it will drop some of the positions it has held so far. Such as raising the pension age to 67."

"The depleted SPD parliamentary group will elect Frank-Walter Steinmeier as their floor leader on Tuesday. The MPs must back him, otherwise the party would really face a schism. Steinmeier is also seen as a possible party leader because he is a moderator rather than a taskmaster. The SPD officials will demand that he opens up the party to the Left Party. He will either do so and betray the principles which led him to rule out a coalition with them this year. Or he will refuse, in which case he will be neither party chairman nor the SPD's chancellor candidate in the 2013 election."

Business daily Financial Times Deutschland writes:

"It may sound paradoxical but Merkel can and should show leadership by doing the same thing she has done in recent weeks: not very much. Merkel will do the country and above all the German economy a favor if she continues her steady-hand policy for the time being -- and doesn't allow herself to be driven by an FDP which is brimming with confidence, or by a wounded CSU (editor's note: The CDU's Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, which suffered a big drop in support on Sunday)."

"The difference from before the election is that Merkel will now need a lot of strength to prevent radical reforms. If the FDP has its way, taxes will be cut sharply and quickly, and that will partly be counterfinanced by spending cuts. The former would in the current situation have a disastrous effect on the state budget, the latter would hit consumer sentiment and the fragile economic recovery. If Merkel believes her own mantra that the grand coalition reacted properly to the crisis, she now needs to confront these ill-conceived concepts."

Conservative Die Welt writes:

"One of the preconditions of Steinmeier's nomination as SPD chancellor candidate, fencing the party off against the Left Party, can no longer apply. To bring back left-wing voters, the party will quickly have to learn their language. Steinmeier will have to shift to the left, or others will push him to do so, even though he agreed in the grand coalition to raise the pension age to 67 and to raise value added tax, and only recently rejected coalitions between the SPD and Left Party even at regional level. Who is going to believe him? How is that going to work?"

Conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:

"The FDP will enter coalition talks demanding that its strong electoral result be reflected in policies and cabinet posts in the new government. It will insist on bigger tax cuts than the chancellor had been planning. It will want to leave its mark in education policy, even though the regional states have strong powers in that area. And in terms of domestic security, it will demand corrections to the policy represented so far by CDU Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble. It is impossible at this stage to estimate what the impact will be on cabinet posts. But speculation that an FDP that got close to 15 percent might demand five cabinet positions isn't totally unfounded."

"Party leader Westerwelle is firmly in line to become foreign minister and vice-chancellor, and he has demonstratively had (veteran FDP foreign Minister) Hans-Dietrich Genscher by his side in recent weeks."

Business daily Handelsblatt writes:

"Will Angela Merkel now put away her cotton balls, put on the boxing gloves and fight for a clear economic policy as a determined reformer? Anyone who has been listening closely to the chancellor will have doubts about that. Even after the election her speeches are peppered with almost anxious assurances that the social balance will remain intact in Germany. Even in the new center-right coalition with the FDP, Merkel still wants to avoid anything that could endanger her party's status as the last remaining mass party in Germany's multi-party system."

"The FDP will make demands, the conservatives will push to slow them down at least when it comes to rapid tax cuts, spending cuts and deregulating the labor market. But it's also true that the economic crisis, record debt and the threat of mass unemployment already limit the new government's room for maneuver to a minimum. And one shouldn't underestimate the resistance that the SPD, the Greens, the Left Party and the trade unions will organize on German streets and in companies. Times are going to get harder."

Left-wing Die Tageszeitung writes:

"The conservative-FDP coalition knows what it was elected for and will live up expectations. That means that in environmental and foreign policy, the interests of big corporations will gain even more weight. The causers and the beneficiaries of the crisis will be spared the costs of it, and the famous 'man on the street' will have to foot the bill. Public services will be cut back. People who thought it made no difference whether the SPD or the FDP are in government will be surprised."

"When the horizon is so gloomy, one may think it cynical to discern some silver streaks. But faint ones do exist. Firstly, it's reassuring that even a five-party system doesn't always automatically produce a grand coalition. If people get the feeling that it doesn't matter who they vote for because it will always produce the same government, it would lead to political apathy."

"The second silver streak: now that the political front lines are clear once again, one can hope that some organizations outside parliament will rediscover their campaigning powers: the trade unions, the critics of globalization, the anti-nuclear movement, perhaps even the peace movement. Political action will relocate to the streets and squares."

David Crossland © SPIEGEL ONLINE

Periódicos de Europa y América Latina comentan el resultado de los comicios en Alemania* Desde la Deutsche Welle

The Times, de Londres:
“La victoria de Angela Merkel luego de la peor recesión alemana de los últimos 60 años es un voto de confianza con el que casi ningún jefe de Gobierno europeo puede contar actualmente. El claro triunfo le da tiempo y espacio para enfrentar la solución de problemas, como el estacionamiento de tropas alemanas en Afganistán. Y le brinda una líder al sector industrial de la Unión Europea, que se mantuvo en segundo plano durante los pasados cuatro años. No se esperan grandes sorpresas de parte de esta canciller tranquila y poderosa. Lo que sí se espera es, en cambio, una nueva autoestima en Berlín, que será beneficiosa para todos los aliados de Alemania.”

Clarín.com, de Argentina:
“La dama opaca, hábil negociadora y dueña de una ironía de estilete que puede demoler a sus rivales, ratificó que es la mujer más poderosa del mundo y la más popular entre los alemanes. Ayer confirmó su liderazgo y Alemania demostró que prefiere no arriesgar en tiempos duros, como en los 90, cuando Helmut Kohl consiguió su tercer mandato en los difíciles años de la reunificación. Pero no sólo de líderes se trató esta elección. Se puso en juego también el rol del Estado para salir de una profunda crisis económica. A tono con el clima mundial, y avalado por su socios socialdemócratas, Merkel había dado impulso a paquetes de estímulo y de protección social. Pero los alemanes apostaron esta vez por un Estado más chico.”

Gazeta Wyborcza, de Varsovia:
“Fue verdaderamente una amarga victoria para Angela Merkel. No mucho más de un 30 por ciento de los votantes eligieron a la Unión Democristiana. Este es uno de los peores resultados en la historia de ese partido, y una desilusión personal para Merkel. Aunque ha probado su eficiencia como canciller, obtuvo menos electores que hace cuatro años. La culpa la tuvo la campaña electoral pasiva y descolorida, en la que la canciller evitó atacar a sus adversarios. Su programa no se diferencia demasiado del de la competencia, el SPD. Muchos alemanes vieron en los liberales del FDP una mejor solución en tiempos de crisis. (…) El futuro Gobierno tiene la oportunidad de ser estable. Esto es importante, ya que se avecinan tiempos difíciles para los alemanes.”

Der Standard, de Viena:
“Ahora que ha logrado el objetivo de ser la número uno, Merkel puede comenzar a gobernar y no sólo a moderar, y a desarrollar un perfil más claro. Como demostró el debate televisivo con Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a Merkel le hubiera gustado continuar la coalición con el Partido Socialdemócrata. Pero su partido la obliga a reconocer una mayoría conservadora. La hija de un pastor luterano deberá lograr el difícil balance entre sus raíces cristianas y las promesas liberales. Como vicecanciller, Guido Westerwelle – fortalecido por el éxito electoral histórico del FDP- entrará en escena con más atrevimiento que Steinmeier o Müntefering. El FDP hará todo lo posible por concretar su principal promesa electoral: la reducción de impuestos.”

El País, de España:
"Lo más llamativo de la jornada electoral alemana es la caída espectacular que han sufrido los socialdemócratas, víctimas en buena parte de su éxito en un país que se ha caracterizado por la exuberancia de su Estado de bienestar. La responsabilidad de Gobierno, compartida con los Verdes desde 1998 hasta 2005 y desde entonces hasta ahora con la CDU-CSU, ha pasado una onerosa factura al partido histórico de la izquierda reformista alemana. Las rentas de este desgaste han ido a parar a La Izquierda, el partido formado por los ex comunistas y los socialdemócratas disidentes de Lafontaine, y también a los Verdes (…).Después del hundimiento socialdemócrata, queda muy comprometido el peso de la izquierda europea, ausente de los gobiernos de los dos países continentales de mayor peso -Francia y Alemania- y pronto también del de Reino Unido."

Corriere della Sera, de Milán:
“Estaba claro hace bastante tiempo que la mayoría de los alemanes quería una segunda legislatura de Angela Merkel. Pero, lamentablemente, Alemania se ha italianizado. Las tendencias han dejado de ser bipolares, y ahora se puede hablar de cinco polaridades distintas. A raíz de ello, se produce un resultado electoral que, teóricamente, hace posible cuatro o cinco coaliciones. Es probable, como espera la canciller, que el gobierno se componga de democristianos y liberales. Pero el antiguo consenso alemán, basado en el intercambio de fuerzas políticas confiables y responsables, ha sufrido una fisura. La República Federal de Alemania es hoy menos estable y menos predecible.”

Luna Bolívar Manaut © Deutsche Welle.