NRW Elections Diary | 61 comments (61 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: NRW Elections Diary (4.00 / 3)

Actually, I was giving the English-language sources a benefit of doubt here. But checking some news this morning, for example SPIEGEL's article on the weakening of Merkel, I don't find any officials of the CDU blaming Greece. They all chose a more general talk about the bad start of the federal government, with focus on the tax cut conflict with the FDP. (The SPIEGEL article mentions Greece only as an additional trouble for Merkel's government.)

So, as Detlef indicated, this Greece meme in the English-language media is totally overblown.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Mon May 10th, 2010 at 02:34:47 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: NRW Elections Diary (4.00 / 5)

I'm not sure we're entirely done here. I think this might receive more attention in the postmortems:

Wahl in Nordrhein-Westfalen: Schwarz-Gelb abgewählt - Wahl in NRW - Politik - FAZ.NET
Vielmehr übernahm der nordrhein-westfälische Integrationsminister Armin Laschet (CDU) das Wort.		Instead, North Rhine-Westphalian integration minister Armin Laschet (CDU) spoke for is party.
Laschet gab der Bundespartei eine Mitschuld an den herben Verlusten seiner Partei. Die nordrhein-westfälische CDU habe zwar eigene Fehler gemacht, aber auch keine Rückendeckung aus Berlin erhalten. In den vergangenen Tagen habe sich die Debatte wegen der Griechenland-Krise kaum noch um landespolitische Themen gedreht.		Laschet assigned the national party organization a portion of the blame for his party's bitter losses. Although the NRW CDU had made mistakes of its own, he said, it received no backup from Berlin. In recent days, the debate had virtually ignored state-level political issues on account of the Greece crisis.

The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman

by dvx (dvx.clt ät gmail dotcom) on Mon May 10th, 2010 at 04:54:51 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: NRW Elections Diary (4.00 / 2)

On the other hand, Merkel's reaction to the election was in line with the focus on the FDP's tax cut madness:

Reaktion auf NRW-Wahl: Merkel streicht Steuersenkungen bis 2012 - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten - Politik		Reaction to the NRW election: Merkel cancels tax cuts until 2012 - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - Politics
...Ungewohnt deutlich gab die CDU-Chefin dann zu, dass die Union in NRW eine deftige Niederlage einstecken musste. Daran sei die schwarz-gelbe Bundesregierung nicht schuldlos, räumte sie bei dem Auftritt mit dem abgestraften Rüttgers ein: "Aus Berlin kam kein Rückenwind, sondern in den ersten Monaten sogar Gegenwind." Unverblümt sprach Merkel aus: "Alles in allem ein bitterer Tag gestern, eine herbe Niederlage."		...Then, the CDU boss admitted with unusual clarity that the NRW CDU had to suffer a hefty defeat. In that, the black-yellow [CDU/CSU-FDP] federal government was not without guilt, she conceded in a joint appearance with the voter-punished Rüttgers: "There was no tailwind from Berlin, what's more, in the first months, even a headwind." Merkel put it bluntly: "All told a bitter day yesterday, a harsh defeat."
Aus der Schlappe an Rhein und Ruhr will die Kanzlerin nun die Konsequenzen ziehen. " Steuersenkungen werden auf absehbarer Zeit nicht durchsetzbar sein", sagte sie. "Das gilt für die Haushalte 2011 und 2012." Das heiße, "dass die Konsolidierung des Haushaltes Vorrang haben und Priorität haben wird". In den nächsten vier Wochen werde es dazu "entscheidende Weichenstellungen im Haushalt" geben.		The chancellor now wants to draw consequences from the rout along on Rhein and Ruhr. "It won't be possible to push through tax cuts in the foreseeable future", she told. "This applies to the 2011 and 2012 budgets." That means "that the consolidation of the budget has and will have priority". With regard to this, there will be "decisive settings of the course in the budget" in the next four weeks.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Mon May 10th, 2010 at 02:26:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: NRW Elections Diary (none / 1)

Here's another example of Konsolidierung (funding) being translated as consolidation.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Mon May 10th, 2010 at 02:29:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: NRW Elections Diary (none / 0)

Hm? I may be misunderstanding the connotations of the English words here -- both "consolidation" and "funding". I take "consolidation" to mean to make solid, i.e. in effect make sustainable and stable by reducing the deficit.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Mon May 10th, 2010 at 02:33:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: NRW Elections Diary (4.00 / 4)

Indeed. They can forget about tax cuts (I'm not sure the CDU states would have gotten in line on that, NRW or no).

Other things that are now out of reach are major changes in healthcare and extending the operating periods of nuclear power plants.

The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman

by dvx (dvx.clt ät gmail dotcom) on Mon May 10th, 2010 at 02:43:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: NRW Elections Diary (4.00 / 3)

Right after the elections, I was certain (and wrote on ET) that the CDU will play the FDP for fools and first delay the tax cuts in the coalition agreement, then find changed circumstances as reason to shelve them. But I was mistaken, Merkel gave in to introduce some of those cuts already before the NRW elections, and this playing the FDP for fools had too high a price for the CDU and Merkel personally.

extending the operating periods of nuclear power plants.

Speaking of that, a Green MP just got the government to put together a statistic for her, which shows clearly that older plants have more security-relevant incidents -- negating the government argument for extending lifespans.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Mon May 10th, 2010 at 02:55:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: NRW Elections Diary (none / 0)

DoDo:

this playing the FDP for fools had too high a price for the CDU and Merkel personally.

Yes. And I'm definitely going to have to reassess Merkel. I too thought she was more astute than that.

This would never have happened to Helmut.

The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman

by dvx (dvx.clt ät gmail dotcom) on Mon May 10th, 2010 at 03:22:18 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: NRW Elections Diary (4.00 / 2)

this Greece meme in the English-language media is totally overblown

So, no Greek effect either way on this election?

That was certainly worth wrecking the Euro for! Murkle must be pleased with herself.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue
- Queen Elizabeth II}

by eurogreen on Mon May 10th, 2010 at 06:40:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: NRW Elections Diary (none / 0)

I think "no effect" would be the other extreme; but either way, Merkel blew it big time.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Mon May 10th, 2010 at 01:52:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: NRW Elections Diary (4.00 / 3)

It's in pretty much every headline I've seen here - I presume it's the wire agency spin. The idea that it might be anything else - unconstitutionally screwing with unemployment supports for instance - isn't admissible.

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Mon May 10th, 2010 at 07:06:37 AM EST
[ Parent ]

NRW Elections Diary | 61 comments (61 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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