Koehler's exit rattles Merkel

By Li Jing

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, battered from all sides for her response to Europe's economic crisis, was in more hot water Tuesday after the second high-profile resignation within a week.

Only six days after Roland Koch, the outspoken premier of Hesse, home to banking capital Frankfurt, stepped down, President Horst Koehler shocked Germany on Monday with an emotional resignation. Both moves came out of the blue.

Koehler announced that he would step down after a wave of criticism over a radio interview in which he allegedly correlated military deployments abroad with the country's economic interests, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Analysts suggested that the departure of Koehler, a member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), would weaken support for Merkel.

"The malfunction of the CDU's coalition with the Free Democrats (FDP) in the German government, and the disputed national tax cuts policy against the background of the financial crisis, have already made Merkel suffer from sinking popularity ratings," said Zheng Chunrong, deputy director of the Institute of German Studies at Tongji University.

"Considering Merkel's current circumstances, Koehler's resignation adds fuel to the fire," he added.

He Maochun, director of the Research Center of Economy and Diplomacy at Tsinghua University, analyzed the potential influence of the surprise resignation from the economic perspective.

"Germany's economic situation will not be impacted in the short term by the temporary political uncertainty," he told the Global Times. "However, the resignation will exert quite a limited influence on the current commercial strategy of the EU, such as the euro rescue plan for debt-stricken Greece, considering the role of Germany in the whole European cooperative sphere."

"Koehler's resignation in the midst of the euro crisis could push Merkel's ... coalition into severe difficulties," AFP quoted the mass-circulation daily Bild as saying.

Merkel now needs to identify a candidate for the largely ceremonial post who would be acceptable to all sides of her squabbling coalition of conservatives and pro-business FDP within 30 days.