German Politics and the Euro Crisis
January 9, 2012 10:25 AM   Subscribe

I've read that two-thirds of the German populace are against European bailouts as a fix for the Euro crisis. One of the political parties in the ruling coalition, the FDP, is against bailouts. But in recent state elections, they did terribly. Why is this?

I don't know much about German politics but want to understand what's going on. Also, what is the official stand of the SDP on bailouts?
posted by storybored to Law & Government (2 answers total)
 
Best answer: FDP has leadership problems, internal rebellions and a weak political message. It seems they have a "junior partner problem": overpromising and underdelivering. Also, this:

"If German voters are particularly upset about euro-zone bailouts, why is support growing for parties that want closer German integration into the euro zone?

One answer is that Germans by and large may not actually care about bailouts. When asked in a poll, they say they oppose giving money to other countries. But the issue is abstract, remote and technical; it doesn’t move them in the voting booth.

What does move voters in Germany and other countries, political scientists say, is economic growth. Specifically, after-tax, per-capita income growth, adjusted for inflation, is particularly good at predicting election results."
posted by iviken at 2:58 PM on January 9, 2012


Perhaps Germans aren't single-issue voters?
posted by number9dream at 3:56 PM on January 9, 2012


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