The New York Times covers Angela Merkel’s visit to Paris yesterday and interprets her comments as spelling the end of the Franco- German axis that Chirac and Schröder worked so hard to establish:
In an earlier briefing with journalists, Mrs. Merkel also played down the importance of the Franco-German alliance, saying France and Germany must not "act above the heads" of smaller countries.
"I was raised in the tradition of Helmut Kohl, who always said you have to see Europe through the smaller countries," she said, referring to the former German chancellor who was also her mentor.
Her statements contrasted with those by Mr. Chirac and Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who meet regularly and hold the Franco-German relationship above all others.
Meanwhile, her party continues to lose ground in the east, which is rather strange considering Merkel is an "Ossi" and should be an appealing candidate to those who feel marginalized:
The Left party has overtaken the CDU to become the most popular in the former East Germany — a blow to Angela Merkel, the conservative leader, who is hoping to capitalise on Schröder’s woes to become Germany’s first female chancellor.
Merkels unpopularity in the east is not that surprising when one reads the CDU Party Platform, which devotes only one page out of 47 to the new states in the east. By contrast, the LInkspartei devotes three pages to the eastern states in its 18-page outline (Entwurf) for its forthcoming Election Manifesto.
Evidently Merkel has decided to take corrective action and tailor part of her campaign to the east German situation:
There should be space on campaign posters for topics that directly affect those in the east, and point out successes such as quality education in the schools of states run by the CDU.
Angela Merkel admits that the campaign in the east will be "partially different." She feels the CDU has to "meet the people in their real lives."
Tim asks the right question over at Wahlblog: if the CDU is running two separate campaigns – one for the west and one for the east – what is their real program to govern?
