Merkel to hold coalition together after deputy quits

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will struggle to hold her already wobbly "grand coalition" together after the sudden resignation of the moderate number two in her cabinet, analysts said Wednesday.
Merkel presides over an unruly power-sharing coalition that has been shaken by Franz Muentefering's shock announcement Tuesday that he would abandon his post as deputy chancellor and labour minister to care for his ailing wife. A centrist Social Democrat (SPD), the straight-talking Muentefering had worked well with Merkel and her conservatives since their slim victory in the 2005 general election drove them into the arms of their traditional rivals.
"It is the right step for Muentefering but a real step back for the coalition because Muentefering was an anchor of stability for the alliance," the top-selling Bild newspaper said.
"Muentefering was by far the most important SPD man for Merkel." Analysts said the only thing holding the government together was the fact that polls show neither could win a ruling majority with its partner of choice among the smaller opposition kingmaker parties.
With four state polls next year ahead of the general election in 2009, "neither of the coalition parties can afford to make a false step," the director of the Political Science Institute at Muenster university, Klaus Schubert, told AFP. Even before Muentefering's resignation, polling expert Juergen Falter said the ruling coalition was on the rocks.
"Just as in a troubled marriage, the partners are only staying together for the children, in this case their own voters," he told the Bild am Sonntag at the weekend. "If a new partner surfaces, it will be over immediately."
The SPD named Olaf Scholz, a party whip, as the new labour minister and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier to take over the number two spot in the government in addition to his current portfolio.
The party is currently trailing the popular Merkel's Christian Union alliance by about 10 points, which is likely to push the SPD to accentuate differences on economic and social policy with the conservatives to win points with voters.
Merkel expressed regret over Muentefering's departure, saying he had shared her belief that Europe's biggest economy still needed "far-reaching reforms." "There are situations in life that make it clear that there are more important things than politics," she told reporters late Tuesday. "It is a shame that we cannot continue working together even though we disagreed on various issues."