Tim Montgomerie Nick Clegg will be watching the fortunes of Germany's Free Democratic Party (FDP) with interest. The junior coalition partner in Angela Merkel's government was badly defeated in the recent Baden-Württemberg election. Guido Westervelle has decided to end his ten year leadership of the FDP but continue as Germany's Foreign Secretary. He hopes that […]
ConservativeInternational last looked at Angela Merkel's fortunes at the end of January. Problems with her new FDP coalition partners were already emerging then. Her government's fortunes have got worse since. Guido Westerwelle, the leader of the FDP and her junior coalition partner, has seen his party's popularity halve since becoming German Foreign Minister. 62% of […]
A cover feature in Time magazine called her the most powerful leader in Europe but Angela Merkel has had a bumpy ride since ending her grand coalition with the leftist SDP and forming a coalition with the libertarian FDP. Five observations: Opinion polls show that the German public are unhappy with her start to her […]
6.45pm: Click to watch Angela Merkel's victory speech (translated into English). 5.45pm: Dan Hamilton has just emailed in the exit poll: 2009 2005 CDU/CSU 33.5% (35.2%) SPD 23.5% (34.2%) FDP 14.5% (9.8%) Greens 10.0% (8.1%) Left […]
Both the Financial Times and The Economist hope that Angela Merkel will be able to break free of her 'grand coalition' with the left-leaning SPD after tomorrow's German elections. Latest opinion polls point to a race that is still too close to call. The CDU, when joined with the economically and socially liberal FDP, are […]