BERLIN (MNI) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right
CDU/CSU-FDP government coalition lost further ground in the Bundesrat,
the upper house representing the 16 state governments, following its
election defeat in the city state of Hamburg on Sunday.
With most votes having been counted, German television projections
showed support for the CDU, which previously governed Hamburg, cut
roughly in half to 21.7%. The FDP mustered 6.7% of the vote.
The center-left SPD emerged as the clear winner of the Hamburg
elections with 48.5% of the vote, according to these projections. The
environmental Green party got 11.2% and the post-communist Left party
6.4%.
If the projections are confirmed, the SPD will most likely be able
to form a government on its own in Hamburg.
The Merkel coalition already lost its majority in the Bundesrat
last year after an election defeat in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany’s
most populous state. It currently controls only 34 out of 69 total seats
and, thus, already has to rely on the opposition to pass legislation.
The defeat in Hamburg will cost the Merkel camp another three seats
in the Bundesrat and will make it even harder for the government to get
its proposals approved. Most fiscal legislation requires the approval of
both houses of parliament.
All opposition parties say they oppose plans by the Merkel
coalition for possible further tax cuts in this legislature, which runs
until 2013.
The strengthened position of the opposition in the Bundesrat is
seen easing the task of Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, never a big
fan of tax cuts, to slash the federal structural deficit by E10 billion
per year through 2016, as mandated by the constitution.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com
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