Germany's vice chancellor is struggling to quellspeculation about his leadership of the country's junior governing party, whosedire poll ratings are a complicating factor as Chancellor Angela Merkel seeksre-election this year.
Philipp Roesler, who is also Germany's economy minister,appealed to his pro-market Free Democratic Party on Sunday to show unity aheadof a state election in his home region of Lower Saxony on Jan. 20, an importantpolitical test ahead of national elections in September.
Polls suggest the center-left opposition has a good chanceof winning Lower Saxony from Merkel's center-right alliance, largely becausethe FDP is very weak, and claiming a significant boost ahead of the nationalvote.
Speaking at a traditional New Year party rally in Stuttgart,Roesler portrayed his party — which opposes government intervention in theeconomy — as the only one which defends traditional German economic principles.The FDP is, he said, "the economic policy corrective in thisgovernment."
The party has often talked particularly tough on theeurozone debt crisis, and Roesler stressed anew its vehement opposition topooling European countries' debt.
The FDP became Merkel's junior governing partner when it wonnearly 15 percent of the vote in Germany's 2009 election with a campaign thatfocused heavily on substantial tax cuts. It failed to achieve them and receivedmuch of the blame for frequent squabbling in the coalition; it currently pollsjust below the 5 percent needed to win parliamentary seats both nationally andin Lower Saxony.
Roesler became party leader and vice chancellor in May 2011,when he declared that "starting today, the FDP will deliver."
That has haunted him as the party flatlined in polls, whileMerkel's conservative Christian Democrats are strong and the chancellor isfortified by her handling of the debt crisis and a strong economy. Merkel'scenter-right coalition lacks a majority in national polls, but they suggest shemay well be able to keep power after September by seeking a new partner.
Speculation has swirled for months that Roesler, 39, wouldhave to go if the FDP does badly in Lower Saxony, and carping from members hasintensified recently. Development Minister Dirk Niebel vented his frustrationabout the situation in a speech to Sunday's event, insisting that the partycan't wait until a scheduled convention in May to choose its election campaignteam.
"Things can't carry on in the FDP as they arenow," he said. "It tears me up inside when I see the state of my, ourFDP."
Roesler said that credibility is "also a question ofstyle, fairness and solidarity." He urged the party to "send a signalthat we are ready to fight together" in Germany's election year.