Last hope for German liberals? A Vietnamese-born doctor

JUDY DEMPSEY
International Herald Tribune
05-16-2011
Last hope for German liberals? A Vietnamese-born doctor
Byline: JUDY DEMPSEY
Type: News

Philipp Rosler, 38, who was elected leader of the Free Democrats with overwhelming support, promised a new beginning over the weekend.

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 Rosler, 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. Rosler 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. Rosler 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. Rosler 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. Rosler, 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. Rosler 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 Schauble's goal of cutting the budget deficit.

And in another sign that Mr. Schauble will find a more willing ally in Mr. Rosler, 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 EUR 78 billion, or $110 billion, bailout for Portugal. And in September, the German Parliament must vote on the final EUR 700 billion package for debt-ridden countries in the bloc.

Mr. Rosler 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. Rosler, 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. Rosler 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.

Keywords: Germany (Geo); Merkel, Angela (Per); Politics and Government (Des)

Copyright International Herald Tribune May 16, 2011