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Merkel Defends Euro in Final Campaign Rally - Wall Street Journal
BERLIN—Angela Merkel delivered a passionate defense of Europe’s currency union in her final campaign appearance before Sunday’s general election, seeking to fight back a last-minute surge by an anti-euro party that threatens the renewal of her center-right coalition.
“The stabilization of the euro isn’t only a good thing for Europe but is of vital interest for Germany,” Ms. Merkel told a rally in the German capital. “It safeguards our prosperity and our jobs.”
A clear majority of Germans support the euro and want their country to remain a member of the common currency. Yet fears about the rising cost to bailout Greece, Portugal and other troubled euro-zone countries has fanned support of opponents of the euro who argue that Germany is putting its own prosperity at risk.
Ms. Merkel’s conservative party ignored the existence of the anti-euro Alternative for Germany (AfD) for much of the campaign. But the upstart movement’s sudden strength in recent polls, which suggest it has a real chance of getting enough votes for entry into parliament, has forced the chancellor’s allies to go on the offensive by defending the euro.
Ms. Merkel’s center-right Christian Democrats are expected to be the clear winners in the election. But the fate of her junior coalition partner, the business-oriented Free Democrats, or FDP, remained in question, in part because the AfD is drawing away its supporters.
The latest polls put both the FDP and the AfD at or near the 5% threshold necessary for entry into the Bundestag, the German parliament.
If the Free Democrats fail to regain entry to the Bundestag or don’t get enough votes to form a majority with the Christian Democrats and their Bavarian sister party, Ms. Merkel would have little choice but to seek a so-called grand coalition with the center-left Social Democrats, Germany’s other mainstream party.
Such a scenario likely would force Ms. Merkel to relinquish control of key ministries, including the finance ministry, to the Social Democrats.
Ms. Merkel, acknowledging that she is “a bit nervous” about Sunday, urged voters at the rally to give her a “strong mandate” and a second term for her coalition. She pointed to low unemployment and high employment levels as the coalition’s biggest achievement over the past four years. At about 5%, Germany unemployment rate is among the lowest in Europe. She also defended her government’s support for euro bailouts of the past years, which hasn’t always been popular with voters.
Voters in Germany have two votes, one for their local representative and one for their preferred party. The FDP, fighting for survival, has encouraged Christian Democrat voters in recent days to throw their support behind the Free Democrats with their second vote to keep the party alive.
The chancellor warned supporters against splitting their two votes, fearing that her own party could wind up with fewer votes and a weaker position in coalition talks following the national election.
The FDP’s tenuous position has many Germans predicting a grand coalition, an outcome that many at Ms. Merkel’s final rally said they would endorse.
“I think we will get a grand coalition and I am in favor of this just like all my friends are,” said Christina Skowronek, a 63-year-old pensioner from Berlin who is a big Merkel fan but not a party member. “The center-right coalition has been really bad. For three years, the parties blocked one another and the Free Democrats destroyed all good ideas. The coalition only got its act together over the last year. Things weren’t so bad under the grand coalition.”
Ms. Merkel’s first term as chancellor, from 2005 to 2009, was also under a grand coalition.
Some analysts believe Ms. Merkel would prefer a renewal of the partnership with the SPD because it would have the votes to get more done.
“My impression has always been that she secretly aspires for a grand coalition,” said Wichard Woyke, professor for political science at the university in Muenster. “At the beginning, the cooperation between the conservative parties and the Free Democrats has been anything but friendly. I think she had been very annoyed by this. She remembers the time of the grand coalition…where things got done.”
Still, the parties would have to overcome conflicting views on tax hikes, single mandatory minimum wage and a European banking union.
Support for Ms. Merkel’s conservatives stood at 39%, according to a poll by research institute Emnid published late Friday. The Free Democrats will get 6% of the vote, according to the poll.
The Social Democrats will get 26% of the vote, the Greens 9% and the Left party 9%, according to the survey of 2,047 people that was conducted between Sept. 14-20.
The euro-skeptical Alternative for Germany got 4% backing, short of the 5% threshold to enter parliament. Other recent polls have put the party at or near 5%, however.
Strong support for the AfD likely would force Ms. Merkel to seek a new coalition partner, analysts say.
“A success for the AfD, i.e., a result of 5% or more, would leave a grand coalition as the only real option,” said Goldman Sachs economist Dirk Schumacher.
Write to Andrea Thomas at andrea.thomas@dowjones.com
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