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BERLIN – A bad European week for Chancellor Angela Merkel looks likely toend with more electoral woes — this time, the likelyre-election of a center-left government in Germany's most populousstate, which Merkel has sought to portray as irresponsibly addictedto debt. But despite the prospect of an embarrassing loss for herconservatives, Merkel still looks unlikely to join French allyNicolas Sarkozy any time soon in the parade of European leadersbooted out by voters weary of Berlin-backed austerity. Merkel'sstance is widely shared by German voters nationally. Sunday's state election in North Rhine-Westphalia, a western regionof some 18 million people, was called in March after its minoritygovernment, made up of Germany's main national opposition parties,narrowly failed to get a budget passed. Opposition leaders declared that it would send an important signalahead of national elections due in late 2013. Merkel said itoffered an opportunity for the region to elect a government thatwouldn't take on "ever more debt." That line of attack looks unlikely to bear fruit: polls suggest thestate government of Social Democrats and Greens led by populargovernor Hannelore Kraft has a good chance of emergingstrengthened, with a majority in the state legislature. But Sunday's election won't change the balance of power nationallywhatever the outcome. Gero Neugebauer, a political scientist atBerlin's Free University, said Merkel should be able to continuewith "business as usual." Merkel's national center-right coalition has become notorious forinfighting over issues ranging from tax cuts to planned benefitsfor stay-at-home parents since it took power in late 2009. It hasperformed badly in several state elections over the past year. The squabbling, and the Free Democrats' weakness in polls, has longfed periodic speculation that the government might fall apartbefore national elections are due in September next year. But ithas held on — and Neugebauer said he expects it to serve thefull term. When the national election comes, Merkel's chances of holding powerlook decent, though perhaps with a new coalition partner. North Rhine-Westphalia is a traditional center-left stronghold,though Merkel's Christian Democrats and their partners in thecurrent national government, the pro-market Free Democrats, ran itfor five years until 2010. The Christian Democratic candidate, federal Environment MinisterNorbert Roettgen, hasn't looked seriously likely to win it backduring an underwhelming and at times gaffe-prone campaign. And thestruggling Free Democrats' main aim is to win the 5 percent ofvotes needed to retain their seats. This week, Roettgen irritated fellow conservatives by declaringthat Sunday's election would decide "whether Angela Merkel's coursein Europe is strengthened or whether it is weakened by there-election of a pro-debt government in Germany." Merkel shot back in a regional newspaper interview that "theelection on Sunday is an important state election for NorthRhine-Westphalia — no more and no less." And Roettgendownplayed his remarks, insisting he meant only to target thecurrent state government. Merkel's center-left predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder, engineeredearly national elections which led to his defeat after his partylost its four-decade grip on North Rhine-Westphalia in 2005. Merkel made no such dramatic move after her coalition's defeatthere two years ago, which cost her government its majority inParliament's upper house. Current national polls consistently show Merkel's conservatives asthe biggest party, though they forecast a parliamentary majorityneither for her center-right coalition nor for the Social Democratsand Greens, who ran Germany from 1998 to 2005. The upstart Pirate Party, which has surged in recent months with aplatform of near-total transparency and Internet freedom but lackspolicies on many issues — including the debt crisis —so far seems to have hurt the center-left most. Merkel's personal popularity remains high nearly seven years into achancellorship in which she has repeatedly displayed a knack forriding out crises. And whether or not campaigning against higherdebt helps this weekend, a poll published this week suggestedGermans are still broadly on her side. The survey of 1,003 people by Forsa for Stern magazine, conductedMay 3-4, found that 59 percent rejected the idea of stimulatinggrowth by running up new debt. Sixty-one percent believed Merkel should stick to her tough stance— which she has done since French and Greek voters punishedpro-austerity parties last weekend. But officials are hopeful ofreconciling Berlin's desire for budget discipline with incomingFrench President Francois Hollande's push for growth. I am an expert from multifunction-calibrator.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Digital Earth Resistance Tester , Digital Multimeter, RTD Calibrator,and more.
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