Popular Merkel, Warning of Threat From Rivals, Rallies Supporters
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Version 0 of 1. DÜSSELDORF, Germany — Praised by her party as “a stroke of luck for Germany” but warning that her rivals could still unseat her as chancellor, Angela Merkel on Sunday fired up her supporters for the last two weeks of a campaign she is widely expected to win. Ms. Merkel, 59, who is seeking a third four-year term as chancellor in federal elections on Sept. 22, seemed in good humor on Sunday in front of some 7,000 supporters in a sports and convention center on the outskirts of Düsseldorf, one of the main cities in the crucial state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The most populous state in Germany, and traditionally a stronghold of Ms. Merkel’s Social Democratic rivals, this is where the election can be won or lost. Ms. Merkel had just returned from the Group of 20 meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia. Asked by a female presenter, how she managed to stay fresh, Ms. Merkel quipped, “Well, the German cosmetics industry is in quite good shape.” In St. Petersburg, Ms. Merkel caused some diplomatic consternation when she did not follow other European countries present — Britain, France, Italy and Spain — in signing on to a statement about Syria. While not mentioning the criticism, Ms. Merkel deviated from her usual stump speech on Sunday to note that she wanted to see a response after the “terrible deaths” in the Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack in Syria. She had hesitated in Russia, she said, only because the 28 foreign ministers of the European Union were meeting the next day in Lithuania, and she did not want to speak on their behalf. Germany joined the European Union call for United Nations action, which was missing from the statement in Russia, and then belatedly signed on to the St. Petersburg statement. Ms. Merkel’s critics accuse her of not being resolute enough in foreign policy. There is no support in Germany for participating in any military action against Syria, and none of the parties would like to see the issue loom large in a domestically focused and somewhat lackluster campaign. The chancellor’s high popularity almost certainly will not translate into an overwhelming victory on Sept. 22 because of the German electoral system, and the mathematics of forming coalitions. The Düsseldorf rally was clearly intended to fire up the conservatives for the final two weeks. Ms. Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union hopes for a big lift next Sunday in the conservative state of Bavaria, which is voting for a regional parliament and where the Christian Democratic Union’s sister party, the Christian Social Union, is aiming high, hoping to win more than 50 percent of the seats. Horst Seehofer, the leader of the Christian Social Union, was among those appearing on Sunday. Ms. Merkel, he said to warm applause, is “a stroke of luck for Germany,” and should stay chancellor. |