Merkel Rebukes Ally for East German Snub

The Conservative leader tipped to replace Gerhard Schröder as German chancellor in next month's election has rebuked her most senior ally for suggesting East Germans were frustrated and stupid.

Angela Merkel, the Conservative Democratic (CDU) candidate for chancellor and more than ten points ahead of the incumbent, said in a TV interview yesterday that it was "wrong and counterproductive to abuse voters".

Her comments came after the leader of the CDU's sister party, Edmund Stoiber of the Christian Socialists, attacked the former East Germany in a speech in his native Bavaria.

Referring to the low poll ratings of the Conservatives in the former East, and the 35% now being polled there by a new party of ex-communists and disaffected socialists, Mr Stoiber said: "I don't accept that ultimately the east decides again who will be chancellor in Germany .... Those who are frustrated can't be allowed in the end to determine the fate of Germany again.

"Unfortunately we don't have such intelligent citizens everywhere as we do in Bavaria. We need to make up for some deficits in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt [former East German states]."

Although Ms Merkel's lead in the opinion polls appears unassailable, she was forced to repudiate the remarks in an interview with ZDF television yesterday.

She stressed she wanted to be the "chancellor of all Germans", and that "anything contributing to a split - whether intentional or not - is wrong".

"Stoiber and I can only win together," she added.

The two leaders of the CDU/CSU alliance are not reported to be close allies. Mr Stoiber stood against the Social Democratic party's Mr Schröder in the 2002 elections, managing a dead heat in the result, but was unable to form a government thanks to the strong showing of the Green party - now in coalition with the SDP - and the poor showing of the Free Democrats.

MS Merkel is herself East German, making her both the first woman and the first Eastern German to become chancellor, if she wins the September 18th election.

The most recent opinion polls put the CDU/CSU 14 points ahead of the SPD, but Ms Merkel has slipped a couple of times on the election trail, twice confusing gross and net income in stump speeches, and been ridiculed in the German press after being pictured at the Bayreuth music festival with large sweat patches under her arms.

In a newspaper interview today, Mr Schroeder blamed multinationals for Germany's high unemployment, which is largely seen as the biggest problem facing the country.

"I believe that companies need to develop a new awareness," Mr Schröder told the Westfaelische Rundschau newspaper.

"Globally active firms must also recognise that they have ... also a national and regional responsibility, a responsibility for factories and jobs."