Germany: The German Chancellor is determined to win over or silence his opponents, writes Derek Scally, in Bochum
The German Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schröder, faces a final showdown over his tough reform package with members of his Social Democratic Party (SPD) at the party's annual conference today.
With reforms of the welfare state and employment market likely to become law before Christmas, Mr Schröder is determined to either win over sceptical rank-and-file SPD members today or silence them for good.
"We have enough to do and we will achieve it," said a determined Mr Schröder yesterday ahead of today's conference in the western city of Bochum.
This morning he delivers a crucial speech that his advisers have spent two weeks polishing in the hope it will, as one speechwriter put it, "reach the heart of the party".
The rank-and-file heart of the party has only ever grudgingly accepted the Agenda 2010 reform package, a series of measures to shake off Germany's three-year economic slump, because so many of the reforms are measures they have spent their lives fighting.
The reforms will, among other things, dismantle parts of the welfare state by slashing dole payments, increase pressure on jobless to take work and relax hire-fire laws for smaller companies.
The long-term aim behind the reforms is to change the mentality in Germany, to increase a culture of self-responsibility and a realisation that the state can no longer provide everything, particularly in the areas of healthcare and pensions.
"We cannot delegate everything to the state," said Mr Schröder yesterday - something that most rank-and-file Social Democrats know in their heads but cannot accept in their hearts.
Pushing through the reforms with the support of the SPD was always going to be an onerous task but, with the Germany economy bobbing in and out of recession, unemployment now at more than 10 per cent and popularity for the SPD at a historic low of 25 per cent, Mr Schröder decided to seize the nettle of reform.
As one of the last social democratic leaders left in power in Europe, Mr Schröder knows that he has to push through reforms that the SPD left-wing attack as anti-social democratic.
In the Bundestag, he managed it with resignation threats and the maxim: "Social is what creates jobs". The proposals are likely to become law by the year end after discussions with the Christian Democrats (CDU) to get the package through the opposition-dominated upper house.
The Chancellor will make a few concessions to the left-wingers today but he knows he is in a position of strength, with no serious challenger as party leader nor any serious alternatives to his reform plan.
Mr Schröder's gamble is that the reforms will kick in next year, the economy will pick up and voters will come back to the SPD before the next election.
As the German leader said yesterday: "There's no going back."