POLITICS : Angry Voters Worry German Parties

Stung by a series of election setbacks, Helmut Kohl’s three-party coalition and the main opposition Social Democrats are making a rare attempt to cooperate. They hope to show disillusioned voters that they can deal effectively with the country’s growing list of problems.

Initial efforts indicate that any breakthroughs will not come quickly.

While a disaffection with established parties is visible in several Western countries including the United States, any flight to the political fringe in Germany rings special alarm bells.

“My fear is that if we don’t resolve the important problems facing us, questions will be raised about the entire democratic system,” summed up the chairman of the opposition Social Democrats, Bjoern Engholm.

In western Germany, voters have become angry at the government’s inability to stem either the costs of unification or the flow of immigrants and asylum seekers into the country.

Eastern Germans, promised a quick economic recovery and a better life by Kohl two years ago, have watched a series of lesser leaders in the region toppled by scandal. They tend to lump all mainstream politicians together as unscrupulous western-controlled rogues incapable of rebuilding their shattered society or easing unemployment.

Recent soundings there showed the main parties were so weak that a group of eastern politicians have discussed the prospect of founding a regional party. “The middle is simply not occupied,” said Michael Diestel, former interior minister in East Germany’s short-lived post-revolutionary government.

Last month’s Berlin borough elections offered one of the most glaring signs of voter frustration in recent German history. Barely 50% of the 2.5 million eligible voters bothered to go to the polls at all, and more than a third of them voted for extremist or fringe parties.

That shock brought the four party leaders together late last month for their first meeting--a 3 1/2-hour session in the chancellery that was long on hype but short on results.

The parliamentary floor leader of the junior coalition partner Free Democrats, Hermann Otto Sohms, insisted that the session was worthwhile, praising it as a “demonstration in confidence-building. . . . It shows that the main parties can deal with the main questions facing the country,” he declared.

But there was little substance to support this assessment.

The parties managed to reaffirm their commitment to ratify the Maastricht Treaty, committing the country to European political and economic union. But even this was dubious progress, if the exercise was to woo voters. Opinion polls indicate that a growing majority of Germans are now against a key element of that treaty that requires them to give up the deutschemark.

Party leaders also agreed in principle to speed the processing of western German claims for eastern German property confiscated during the Communist era. But there was no agreement on the overriding issue of financing German unity.

Engholm, referring to Kohl’s view that the worst is already behind them, declared after the talks: “We still live in two completely different worlds in our assessments.”

From the beginning of the unity process, the Social Democrats have consistently accused Kohl of being wildly optimistic in his estimates of the timing and costs of bringing the former Communist region onto a level with the western part. So far, they have been correct.

Despite the lack of progress, political observers believe the meeting may not have been in vain. “The Germans attach enormous value to dialogue,” noted a Western diplomat here. “Because everyone has shown themselves ready to talk, you can say it’s a plus for all of them.”

While a second round of talks has not yet been scheduled, the same pressures that brought the party leaders together last month could eventually bring them together on key issues.

Growing discontent from the Social Democrats’ rank and file, for example, forced the party last week in Parliament to support a government-sponsored law to accelerate the processing of asylum seekers.

“There’s a feeling in Bonn that the situation can’t be allowed to go on as it has been,” commented a Kohl aide. “The coalition knows this and so does the opposition. The problem is how best to counter the public disillusionment.”

A Creeping Right-Wing Vote

Germany’s political parties are taking new steps in reaction to the increasing strength demonstrated by right-wing elements, as shown in these recent election results: In state election in Baden-Wuerrtemberg: 1988: 3.1% 1992: 11.8% In state election in Schleswig-Holstein: 1988: 2.8% 1992: 7.5% In Berlin borough elections (western part of city): 1988: 7.5% 1992: 9.9%