Digging at Westerwelle

Ash Wednesday marks the end of the carnival season and the beginning of Lent. In Germany, it's also traditionally a day where political leaders come together with their supporters to rail against their opponents - earning it the name "political Ash Wednesday."

Usually, it's a day marked by attacks on the political opponents - no matter which party gathering you look at - accompanied by a considerable amount of beer consumption. The day comes and goes, at the most leaving outsiders impressed by just how boring political debate has become in Germany.

This year, though, things are different - thanks to Germany's Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle. The leader of the junior coalition partner Free Democratic Party (FDP) caused an uproar last week by calling Germany's attitude to the welfare state "socialist."

He compared state support for the long-term unemployed - known as "Hartz IV" - to "late Roman decadence."

A red herring?

Members of the FDP's coalition partner Christian Democrats (CDU) under Chancellor Angela Merkel have sharply criticized Westerwelle for his statements. Merkel herself finally admonished her foreign minister at the CDU rally Wednesday evening, after days of no public comment on the matter.

"I have made it clear that, what Guido Westerwelle said, is not my words," Merkel said. "It is not my style."

She said the CDU was not only interested in certain groups, but was open for everyone.

Sigmar Gabriel, head of the opposition Social Democrats (SPD), said the CDU-FDP coalition was using the Hartz IV debate to obscure its own shortfalls.

"They want to detract from their own idleness," Gabriel said at the SPD Ash Wednesday gathering.

Gabriel said the government wasn't offering any solutions for social problems at all. In fact, he said those people who took advantage of state-supported offerings such as education and theater were then proceeding to move their money right past the tax authorities.

"They're the ones who take what they can get from what a nation like Germany has to offer but then, when it comes down to helping to finance the country, they cart their earnings abroad right past the taxman," Gabriel said. "Those are the true social scammers in Germany."

Renate Kuenast, head of the Green party, said the only thing Westerwelle was capable of was "provoking, dividing and agitating," she told Green supporters.

Standing fast

Westerwelle, though, reiterated his statements at his applauded speech on Wednesday.

"It had to be said what needed to be said," Westerwelle told FDP supporters. "Who would have led this discussion in Germany at all if the whole thing had been clad in a diplomatic bulletin?"

Of course, as foreign minister he was obligated to follow a diplomatic tone when abroad. But, he said when in Germany, he would "continue to belong to the club of clear debate."

"The left-wing zeitgeist may criticize me for it, but the fact remains: work has to be worth it and someone who works more has to get more than someone who doesn't work at all," he said.

Several CDU party members had called Westerwelle's statements "right-wing."

"You really have to be on the radical left in your mind if you constitute the willingness to perform as right-wing," he said.

Not a tsunami

Westerwelle at least got some support from the head of the CDU's Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU). Horst Seehofer told several thousand supporters enjoying a day of beer and fish buns that he was clearly committed to the coalition, which the CSU is also part of.

He said, however, that "his friend Guido" should try to show "more composure and sovereignty" when talking about important issues in Germany.

But Seehofer couldn't resist a bit of mockery in view of Westerwelle's warning that he could also go about things differently in the ongoing coalition debate.

This warning really "knocked us for a loop," Seehofer said.

"The Alps are trembling, the Franconian Forest is reeling, the Chiemsee lake is foaming," he said. "But never fear, it isn't a tsunami, it's only a Westerwelle." "Welle" is the German word for wave.

Westerwelle meanwhile is convinced that he is simply stating the facts as they are.

"I am only saying what all politicians in truth know, but don't dare say because they're afraid that the world cannot handle the truth," he said. "I represent an entirely different view. The people want to hear the truth."

And, as everyone knows, the truth hurts - it seems particularly for the FDP. A new survey published Wednesday showed that the party's support in the population has fallen yet another percentage point in the past week and is now at 7 percent. This is half of what it was at the elections last September.

Author: Sabina Casagrande
Editor: Andreas Illmer