2011年5月16日星期一

Last Hope for German Liberals? A Vietnamese-Born Doctor

在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中,找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件,或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。
在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中,找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件,或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。

ROSTOCK, GERMANY — A young Vietnamese-born physician has become the German liberals’ last hope for defending their standing in the government and preparing for the next federal elections, set to take place in 2013.

The politician, Philipp R?sler, 38, who was elected leader of the Free Democrats last week with overwhelming support, promised a new beginning during a packed party congress in Rostock during the weekend, a rallying cry for a party that has plummeted in opinion polls ever since joining Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right coalition 18 months ago.

“From today, the F.D.P. will deliver,” he told delegates Saturday, trying to salve wounds suffered during recent defeats in regional elections.

Mr. R?sler also became economy minister when he assumed the party leadership from Guido Westerwelle, who will remain in the government as foreign minister but gave up all Free Democrat duties.

But if Mr. R?sler wants to sharpen the profile of the party, he is likely to run into conflict with the conservative bloc of Mrs. Merkel. And while a stronger and more popular Free Democratic Party would undoubtedly help the government in the opinion polls, it could also create a more fractious coalition.

During his speech, Mr. R?sler promised that the party would defend what had always been the heart of its philosophy: civil rights. This is bound to lead to conflicts with the Christian Social Union, the sister party of Mrs. Merkel’s Christian Democrats.

Since taking office three months ago, Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich, a Christian Socialist, has called for tighter controls over the Internet and more powers for security services to prevent terrorist attacks and combat crime.

While the Free Democrats had always raised some opposition to such controls, those objections were often less than forceful under Mr. Westerwelle.

On his watch, the party became so focused on a single issue — tax cuts — that when he failed to persuade the Christian Democrats to go along with an overhaul of the tax system, he lost significant support.

When it became clear that Mr. R?sler, who until last week held the post of health minister, would assume the party leadership, he reassigned the Free Democrats’ top jobs, giving himself the far more popular job of economics minister.

Mr. R?sler made it clear that the party would still fight for tax reform. “We are willing to do it,” he told the congress on Saturday. “We are just waiting for our coalition partners.”

But in a major policy change, he also said the Free Democrats would support Finance Minister Wolfgang Sch?uble’s goal of cutting the budget deficit.

And in another sign that Mr. Sch?uble will find a more willing ally in Mr. R?sler, the new party leader quashed attempts by a group of euro-skeptic Free Democratic federal lawmakers to oppose an economic rescue package from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

On Monday and Tuesday, E.U. finance ministers are expected to approve a €78 billion, or $110 billion, bailout for Portugal. And in September, the German Parliament must vote on the final €700 billion package for debt-ridden countries in the bloc.

Mr. R?sler said the party had to reach out to “normal people,” phrasing that analysts said was an attempt to shed the Free Democrats’ image as a well-to-do movement detached from social problems.

Indeed, Mr. R?sler, a father of 2-year-old twins, spoke about single working parents struggling to find all-day child-care centers or schools, and families struggling to meet the costs of looking after their aging parents.

Mr. R?sler lived in a Roman Catholic orphanage in Saigon until being adopted by a German couple when he was 9 months old.

He has said in interviews that he had a normal German upbringing, growing up with his father, a career soldier, when his adoptive parents separated. He studied medicine and worked full time as an army doctor until 2003.

He also rose steadily through the ranks of the Free Democratic Party, which he joined when he was 19.


View the original article here

没有评论:

发表评论