If they had a vote, most Germans would agree that Joachim Gauck is the better president, writes DEREK SCALLY
WHEN JOACHIM Gauck turned 70 last January, Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed happily to speak in his honour.
The two East Germans go way back, she reminded Gauck, a Lutheran pastor and civil rights campaigner who became a household name in the turbulent months of 1989.
After unification, as custodian of the toxic Stasi files, he earned the respect of the nation by exposing the injustices of a vanished regime and thus allowing old wounds to heal.
"It's so wonderful that we have you," said Dr Merkel in her birthday laudatio, "because when you see a wound you always put your finger in it."
Six months on, the talented Mr Gauck has his finger in another a gaping wound: Chancellor Merkel’s luckless coalition.
Her coalition partner is in meltdown, she has lost her law-making majority in the upper house of parliament and the eurozone crisis has left Germany haemmorhaging money.
In the middle of all this the German head of state, Horst Köhler, threw in the towel after a row over the army, forcing Dr Merkel to find a quick replacement.
Spotting a chance to steady her coalition, she chose as Christian Democrat (CDU) candidate Christian Wulff, the wan state premier of Lower Saxony.
Immediately the opposition Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens pulled Joachim Gauck out of their sleeve — to much forehead-slapping in the CDU camp.
Within days a consensus had formed among the German public and media that, as a Der Spiegelcover put it, Mr Gauck was "The better president".
As an unrivalled moral authority he matches the criteria for the German presidency which, like its Irish counterpart, is an office with moral rather than political power.
Last January Dr Merkel appeared to agree, calling Mr Gauck “an extraordinary servant of our country: a freethinker and reconciliator”.
What’s more: unlike his rival, Mr Gauck already has the presidential polish.
A self-described “lefist liberal conservative”, Mr Gauck’s ambition as president is to empower Germans to embrace freedom – in particular older East Germans who lived most of their lives in totalitarian systems and who have yet to settle in the market economy.
“Freedom, the empowerment of freedom, has been the big theme in my life, even though I think, given the choice, my fellow Germans would much rather have security,” he said. “I don’t mean the freedom to say, ‘I can do anything I want’ but the joy of opting for something, being aware that I always have a choice.”
The irony is that the German people don’t have a choice of president. That job falls to a special federal convention that includes all Bundestag MPs and delegates from the state parliaments. In this body the current government has a reported majority of 18 – yet the outcome is completely unpredictable for Dr Merkel.
While her backbenchers are likely to vote for Mr Wulff, some government party delegates from eastern regions – knowing they face a secret ballot and no party whip – have openly backed Mr Gauck.
“In my mind this is the first time that regional party groups have spoken out against their own candidate,” said Prof Oskar Niedermayer, political scientist at Berlin’s Free University. “Mr Gauck fits the bill perfectly and his candidacy has driven a wedge between the government parties, increasing friction and the wish to settle scores – with the party leader or coalition partners.
“There could be quite a few more people willing to do this than those who have already admitted it.”
If Mr Gauck is elected president, the loss of face and political authority would be so great for Dr Merkel that she would be likely to bring down her government after just nine months. Even those who rule out that scenario say it is likely that delegates will use the June 30th vote to let off steam and dent Chancellor Merkel’s authority.
Mr Gauck says he has no interest in political games or bringing down the government, but in satisfying what he sees behind the enthusiasm for his candidacy: “a longing for credible people who can be trusted in office after so much trust has been thrown away”.
“That,” he says, “may be at the heart of what people expect of me.”