BERLIN (MNI) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right
CDU/CSU-FDP government coalition is set to lose further ground in the
Bundesrat, the upper house representing the 16 states, in this Sunday’s
elections in the city state of Hamburg.
The ruling coalition already lost its majority in the Bundesrat
last year after an election defeat in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany’s
most populous state. It now controls only 34 out of 69 total seats and,
thus, already has to rely on the opposition to pass bills.
Losing Sunday’s election in Hamburg, which polls signal is almost
certain, would cost the Merkel camp another three seats in the Bundesrat
and would make it even harder for the government to get bills through.
Most fiscal legislation requires the approval of both houses of
parliament.
The latest polls see the CDU, which currently governs Hamburg
without a coalition partner, getting only 23% to 24% of the intended
vote and the FDP earning only 5%. The center-left SPD is seen mustering
45% to 46% of votes, while the Greens and the neo-communist Left party
are seen getting 14.5 to 15% and 6% respectively.
If the polls are accurate, the SPD and the Greens would most likely
form a coalition, thus sending their Bundesrat representatives to Berlin
and further tilting the balance in the upper house away from the Merkel
camp.
All opposition parties say they oppose plans by the Merkel
coalition for possible further tax cuts in this legislature, which runs
until 2013.
Though nobody will publicly say so, the CDU’s loss in Hamburg
might not be so bad for at least one member of the federal cabinet:
A defeat of Merkel’s party in the Hamburg election would help
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, never a big fan of tax cuts, slash
the federal structural deficit by E10 billion per year until 2016, as
mandated by the constitution.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com
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