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Germany: a tale of two foreign ministers
“Self-confident”, “smart” and “rhetorically brilliant” – just some of the adjectives the media have lavished upon Germany’s favourite politician as he has covered thousands of miles traversing the globe on his country’s behalf since Chancellor Angela Merkel’s new centre-right administration took office late last month.
But Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg is not in charge of foreign affairs — a position usually associated with voter popularity. He is defence minister.
Already nicknamed ”the other foreign minister“, the 37-year-old Guttenberg, a conservative former economy minister who cut his teeth on foreign policy, has won praise for his fluency in English, his directness and his ability to outshine more powerful counterparts on the international stage.
Watching the aristocratic AC/DC fan from the sidelines has been the new foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, whom newspapers have mocked for adopting a cautious, defensive approach that critics say is more redolent of, well, a German defence minister.
In fact, Westerwelle, 47, has already travelled thousands of miles further than his predecessor Frank-Walter Steinmeier over the same period. By the time the first month in office has passed he will have journeyed to some 15 states, including Israel, Afghanistan and the United States. Steinmeier managed only 10 and did not get beyond Europe in that time, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
Germany might be the winner if its diplomatic duel helps it towards a more assertive foreign policy — something it has struggled to achieve in the long shadow of the Nazis.
But it could also find itself giving mixed messages to the outside world, to say nothing of potential tensions within the new coalition. Guttenberg belongs to the Bavarian CSU and Westerwelle heads the pro-business FDP — parties that have clashed on a range of policies in the past.
Could the “Baron from Bavaria’s” success rock the coalition in Berlin?
It was a weekend of mixed fortunes for the German government’s aristocratic AC/DC fan Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg.
In Sunday’s federal election, the 37-year-old conservative Economy Minister won 68.1 percent of the direct votes in his constituency — more than any other politician in Germany, and nearly 20 points more than Chancellor Angela Merkel — and earning him the nickname “King of the votes” in German media.
However, his Christian Social Union (CSU), Bavarian sister party to Merkel’s Christian Democrats, had their worst day at the polls in 60 years, taking just 42.6 percent of the vote in the state they have ruled almost single-handedly since the war.
With turnout at a record low, Merkel’s conservatives secured a mandate to form Germany’s first centre-right coalition since 1998 with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP).
But the success enjoyed by Freiherr Guttenberg — mockingly dubbed the “Baron from Bavaria” by former Social Democrat chancellor Gerhard Schroeder — could pose problems for the CSU’s populist leader, Horst Seehofer.
Keen to quash any talk of a leadership tussle with the telegenic hard rock fan and sometime DJ, the 60-year-old Seehofer told a board of directors in Munich: “You can’t start coalition talks with questions about staff.”
Despite its campaign slogan: “What our country needs now: a stronger CSU in Berlin”, the CSU heads into coalition talks weakened. Buoyed by its best ever performance, the FDP will likely have twice as many seats as the CSU in parliament and hopes to take control of three or four portfolios.
The Economist often has great pieces about her!