Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 13, 1990 TAG: 9004131051
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: MARK FRITZ ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: EAST BERLIN LENGTH: Medium
Parliament's decision to put in power the government of Prime Minister Lothar de Maiziere was not contingent on a vision for East Germany's future, but a blueprint for its demise.
De Maiziere, who managed to build a coalition government encompassing most of the major political factions, has but one mandate: lead East Germany to a merger with West Germany.
But his decision to cobble together a united front of wide-ranging opinions was a masterstroke that may give West Germany less room to dictate the terms and timing of unification.
As the diverse composition of de Maiziere's government indicates, no longer is the infant known as East German democracy willing to toddle into the waiting arms of the West German fatherland without asking for a bigger allowance.
De Maiziere and his Christian Democrat coalition, which finished ahead in East Germany's first free elections on March 18, have kept their promise to voters to seek unification as quickly as possible.
But on Thursday, they joined with the left-leaning Social Democrats in a broad coalition government that will present a united East German front at the negotiating table.
The very existence of the coalition acknowledges a growing fear among East Germans who, once starstruck by the prospect of sharing West German wealth, are now grappling with the reality of abandoning a vast welfare system for the wilds of the free market.
De Maiziere already has begun distancing himself somewhat from his political mentor, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl.
He assumed a tougher negotiating posture just hours after Parliament named him prime minister, saying on West German television that unification may not come next year, as Kohl has said.
He said he wants to make sure East Germans, dependent on heavy social benefits, are not disadvantaged by the process.
He even portrayed East Germany as the proverbial David to West Germany's Goliath.
The 50-year-old lawyer and former viola player presented an image far different from the man who campaigned across the East German countryside this year with Kohl, willingly giving center stage to the West German chancellor.
The wide-ranging agreement on which de Maiziere has built his coalition still includes major points the Bonn government is demanding.
It says the countries must be merged en masse, not one East German state at a time, and that a united Germany should remain part of NATO. It also says the monetary systems must be merged by July 1, as Kohl has demanded.
But it also includes many of the demands of East Germany's Social Democrats, who have close ties to Kohl's main opposition, the West German Social Democrats.
The East German agreement demands East Germans accustomed to cheap food, cheap homes and government jobs receive broad housing and employment guarantees.
It also demands most East German marks be traded at a 1-1 exchange rate when the currencies are merged, rather than the 2-1 rate recommended by the West German central bank.
Even the commitment to NATO membership hedges. The accord says membership should be temporary, and NATO troops should not be based in what is now East Germany, a nod to the Soviets who want a neutral Germany.
The coalition agreement also declares that Germany should not seek to reclaim former German lands ceded to Poland after World War II.
That is something Kohl has not been willing to guarantee, as he courts arch-conservatives before West German elections in December. He is likely to face a stiff challenge from the West German Social Democrats.
De Maiziere has had to fight the perception he is a puppet of Kohl, and his tough comments may just be pre-negotiation bombast and political expediency aimed at calming the fears of an increasingly worried populace.
But by forging a coalition with the Social Democrats, de Maiziere has made a break with Bonn and acknowledged a growing fear that East Germans could become a second-class tier of a new German society.
Now, Kohl may have to try to cut a deal with his own Social Democrats when he negotiates with the East Germans.
Neither West German party wants to alienate West German voters who fear higher taxes and interest rates and deflated buying power as they bail out the doddering East German economy.
De Maiziere, meanwhile, can head to the bargaining table knowing that while unification is inevitable, the price just may be negotiable.
by CNB