CHANCELLOR ANGELA Merkel’s Free Democrat (FDP) coalition partners have promised to restore stability in the German government despite the departure of party leader Guido Westerwelle.
With the FDP flatlining at 5 per cent, party grandees ditched Mr Westerwelle after a decade in charge and are expected to choose a new leader today.
Mr Westerwelle announced his decision on Sunday evening to journalists in Berlin and said he would no longer serve as vice-chancellor under Dr Merkel.
“It’s time to allow a change in generation of the FDP and let them work on a new beginning; I’m sure this is the right decision,” said Mr Westerwelle.
His departure came a week after the FDP barely scraped into the state parliament in Baden-Württemberg, a traditional party stronghold. Despite that election disaster, Mr Westerwelle had hoped to hang on by heading an extended period of reflection ahead of the party conference in May.
After days of pressure from party colleagues, however, he agreed not to stand again as leader. Instead the party conference will back a successor to be announced today.
Mr Westerwelle is expected to stay on as foreign minister while front-runner to succeed him as FDP leader is the little-known federal health minister, Philip Rösler.
A relative newcomer to federal politics, the 38-year-old was born in Vietnam but was raised with adoptive parents in Hamburg. Mr Rösler denied harbouring higher political ambitions after he was promoted out of the state government in Lower Saxony to become federal health minister in 2009.
Since arriving in Berlin he pushed through a radical cost-cutting health reform. A medical doctor by profession and father of young twins, he has spent his political career so far in the shadow of Mr Westerwelle, though colleagues describe him as a milder, more moderate figure.
The other likely candidate for the position is Christian Lindner, the 32-year-old party general secretary who is considered a political talent but who, unlike Mr Rösler, lacks cabinet experience.
Germany’s political opposition painted Mr Westerwelle’s departure yesterday as a danger for Dr Merkel’s government.
“Westerwelle’s a victim of his own radicalism of the last years – instead of real liberalism he offered clumsy market radicalism,” said SPD general secretary Andrea Nahles.
“This government is damaged because not even the FDP’s own voters find the party suitable for office. There are stormy times ahead.”