Schröder under pressure as Greens rock coalition By Haig Simonian in Berlin
Germany's embattled Red-Green government faced fresh strains yesterday after the Green party called for sweeping changes to distance themselves from the Social Democrats, the senior partners in the coalition. The Greens' plans are a further test for Gerhard Schröder, chancellor, whose government has suffered a string of crushing regional election defeats culminating in last Sunday's debacle in the eastern state of Saxony.
Mr Schröder finds himself torn between an activist Green party committed to radical stands on the phasing out of atomic power, tax cuts and pensions reform, a restive SPD dominated by the traditional left, and his own pro-business centrist instincts.
The strains within the Red-Green coalition seem certain to increase as Mr Schröder seeks to win support for an unpopular DM30bn austerity package next year and proposals to hold pension rises to inflation for the next two years.
Yesterday, Joschka Fischer, foreign minister and one of the Greens' leaders, warned that the party had to pull together and reform its loose structure to avoid further defeats.
The new Green strategy came the day after electors in Saxony delivered another crushing blow to the Greens and the SPD.
The SPD's support slumped to 10.7 per cent, while backing for the Greens declined to 2.6 per cent.
The result follow severe setbacks for both parties in Brandenburg, the Saarland and Thuringia earlier this month.
At a meeting of the party's executive committee, Green leaders yesterday accepted Mr Fischer's plan to turn what still bears the traces of a protest movement into a modern political apparatus.
At the same time, the Green leadership lined up behind plans for tax and pensions reform that they believe are vote-winners but which have been blocked by the SPD's powerful left wing.
Mr Fischer, who is close to the chancellor, said the entire leadership recognised the need for change, "otherwise the future will be very, very difficult for our party".
The meeting did not produce the widely expected coup after weekend press reports that Mr Fischer would use the election setbacks to oust the existing leadership and remodel the party around his control.
An attempt by Mr Fischer to dismantle the Greens' highly complex organisational structure, which vests power at grass roots level, failed earlier this year after stiff opposition from powerful regional leaders.
Mr Fischer yesterday said he "regretted" the impression that he was trying to force out Gunda Röstel and Antje Radcke, the party's co-leaders.
The planned reforms must still be accepted by the party's membership, which has so far been largely unswayed by Mr Fischer's calls for reform.
Both the SPD and the Greens are struggling to improve their popularity to stave off further setbacks in state elections in Berlin next month and in Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine Westphalia early next year.