Gerhard Schroeder's come-from-behind win Sunday to remain Germany's chancellor ended one of the most interesting European elections in recent years, said political, policy and European experts at Duke, although they disagreed on the impact Schroeder's reelection will have on German-American relations.
"They obviously have changed in the short run, there's no question about it," said Herbert Kitschelt, professor of political science. "It's not going to be easy to repair the damage. There's some sense that Schroeder might use the Iraq issue to attract voters. His posturing on the issue went past what one might expect goes on in the electoral campaign."
Schroeder, who trailed conservative challenger Edmund Stoiber throughout the summer, climbed back into contention for two reasons--a prompt response to flooding that included aid, and his outspoken opposition to a U.S. attack on Iraq. Although many European leaders have expressed hesitation with the United States' Iraqi war plan, few have outrightly denounced it, as Schroeder did in the election.
Ingeborg Walther, chair of the Department of Germanic Language and Literature, said that U.S.-German relations have long been strong, however, and will continue to remain as such.
"I'm really distressed about how this is being portrayed by the American media, that Germans on the whole are becoming more anti-American," she said. "That is not the case whatsoever. They're very distressed at the current administration and [President George W. Bush's] move toward unilateralism. To single out Germany is unfair, because this is a general European reaction."
Stoiber, prime minister of Bavaria, chastized Schroeder's position on U.S. foreign policy, but opinion polls clearly showed that the German people were closer to Schroeder on the issue. Preliminary results showed that Schroeders Social Democrat-Green coalition would hold 306 seats in the new Bundestag, an 11-seat advantage over the Christian Democrat-Free Democrat alliance's 295.
In the last weeks of the election, Schroeder voiced strong opposition to any German participation in a U.S.-led action against Iraq. His Justice Minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin is also alleged to have compared Bush's political tactics with those of Adolf Hitler. Bush's spokesman has denounced the comments and Condoleezza Rice, national security advisor, said the Schr��der campaign has "poisoned" relations between the two.
Kitschelt said he expected Schroeder to make amends with the United States.
Schroeder announced, for example, the sacking of Daeubler-Gmelin Monday. Kitschelt said that because Germany wants a seat on the United Nations's permanent Security Council, it will have to become friendlier to the United States.
Christoph Peters, a German who is at Duke in the Media Fellows program, said that the responsibility of mending the relationship will most likely fall on German foreign minister Joschka Fischer, who is the popular leader of the Greens and whose comments on the United States were much more measured during the election. The Greens' performance in the election, many analysts say, propelled Schroeder to his reelection.
"I think [U.S.-German relations] are extremely strong," Walther said. "Germans have been very, very pro-American since the war. They have not forgotten the Marshall Plan, they know how important it is to have America as an ally. Every German government, including Schroeder's government, has been a very strong ally of America."
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