A victory with reservations ” “

Uncertain to the end, the elections to the Bundestag – the lower Chamber of the German federal Parliament – held on 22 September, resulted in a narrow victory for the ruling coalition between the SPD (Social Democrats) and the Greens. Thanks to the latter, the current government was reconfirmed. The SPD and the Christian parties of the Union (CDU/CSU) obtained the same percentage of the vote, 38.5%. The success of the Greens was considerable: they won 8.6% of the vote. The Liberals of the FDP, allied with the Union, by contrast, did badly, only obtaining 7.4% of the vote, against opinion poll predictions of 10%: the recent antisemitic statements of some senior party exponents aroused a lot of controversy, with serious repercussions on the electoral results. The former Communist PDS failed to get into the Bundestag; they did not overcome the threshold of 5%, nor did other small parties, such as the extreme right and the neo-nazis. We asked two experts to give their views on the electoral results: Nikolaus Lobkowicz , director of the central Institute for studies on central and eastern Europe at the Catholic University of Eichstätt, an academic and philosopher, and Heinrich Oberreuter , director of the Academy for political formation, a political analyst and radio and TV commentator. Prof. Lobkowicz, how do you judge the electoral campaign that preceded the elections? “The choice of the person was more important than the choice of the programme. Schröder banked on popular appeal, Stoiber on issues, especially the government’s failure to bring down unemployment. But in its last weeks, the campaign assumed demagogic tones: Schröder fomented the fear of an American military intervention in Iraq, gravely damaging good relations with the US government”. Do you foresee any changes in social policy? “I think it improbable due to the slender majority of the ruling coalition and the greater power of the CDU/CSU in the Bundesrat (Federal Council). And that’s a pity because Germany has an urgent need for reforms, especially in social policy and education”. The outgoing government approved various controversial laws in the area of the family and biogenetics. Do you think Schröder will take the Christian world into greater consideration? “I don’t think so, especially since the ‘Christian parties’ take as little account of Christian values as do the Social Democrats, Greens or the Liberals. Cardinal Joachim Meisner, archbishop of Cologne, was quite right when he wrote that, if they were to be honest, the parties of the Union ought to eliminate the title ‘Christian’ from their name. Let’s not forget that it was a CDU/CSU government that decided to liberalize the law on abortion”. Prof. Oberreuter, is the co-existence in Europe of mainly “Latin” countries, governed by the centre-right, and others, like Sweden and now once again Germany, governed by socialist and left-wing parties, the sign of a political and cultural divide? “The historical reasons which led to the differences between countries influenced by Catholic culture and Protestant countries should of course be taken into consideration. In Germany too, there are Länder influenced by Catholicism – and governed by the Union – and Protestant Länder in which the SPD predominates. But I wonder whether this interpretation still has any sense”. Might there be negative repercussions of the German elections on the work of reforming the EU Treaties? “As regards an eventual European constitution that makes explicit reference to the Christian tradition, I foresee negative effects due to the process of secularization going on in Europe. Even in the CDU and in Catholic Bavaria one may observe a lack of attention to Christian values. What’s needed, on the other hand, is to formulate a European ethical code that would be really acceptable to everyone: that is possible only by remembering our common Christian tradition”. Mercede Succa