Merkel's Libyan Stance Angers Germans

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is under increasing pressure at home - from the media as well as her political allies and foes.

The leftist paper, Die Link, said it is ashamed to find Germany on the side of China and Russia, and being congratulated by Hugo Chavez and Qadhaffi for having abstained from voting for UN Resolution 1973. It noted also that Merkel didn’t even choose to voice moral support for the Libyan insurgents trying to break free of Qadhaffi.

This reaction to the Chancellor’s refusal to support the Resolution is shared by most Germans, who see her abandoning Germany’s traditional allies for the sake of her internal German political agenda. She is in very tight regional election battles in the south of Germany and is accused of trying to use a “pacifist” stance on Libya to salvage her coalition. One does not abstain in the face of a dictator, said one of her opponents. Merkel, trying to save her coalition by every means available, has also abandoned her position that nuclear power is needed for at least the next ten years, and announced some immediate shutdowns of older nuclear units.

The SPD, the leftist party of Merkel’s predecessor as Chancellor, and the German Green Party have independently voted to support Resolution 1973. Their position is based on the premise that, even if Germany’s post-WWII pacifist position would make it difficult for Germany to join the military coalition, it would have been easy to vote for the Resolution and find other ways to help. Some German commentators are also pointing out that there are German troops in Afghanistan, a seemingly non-pacifist gesture.

As she often does when she has made a tactical political error, Merkel is now saying at today’s European summit on Libya that Qadhaffi’s day is over and that Europe’s patience is wearing thin. If the military intervention is quickly successful in Libya, these words will haunt her coalition.

Germany’s European partners, who, with Britain and France in the lead and with the full support of Merkel, are trying to form a pan-European military force, are beginning to wonder if Germany could become a permanent roadblock to ever committing to any military objective.

As one German newspaper was quoted as saying today, Merkel’s foreign policy is a farce. Fortunately, Merkel’s policies are not the policies of the broader Germany. And her coalition is living on borrowed time.