Daily Telegraph Schröder faces calls to quit over peace plan By Kate Connolly in Berlin February 12, 2003
Chancellor Gerhard Schröder faced heated calls to resign yesterday after being exposed as the source behind a secret Franco-German peace plan for Iraq. The usually deferential German press rounded on him after the Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel disclosed that he invited a group of journalists to discuss the plans over red wine last Thursday. The disclosure is hugely embarrassing for Mr Schröder as the leak sparked outrage in Washington and fuelled the crisis in Nato. Coming after a dire few weeks on the domestic political and economic fronts, his embarrassment was compounded as reports showed a growing rift between Mr Schröder and Joschka Fischer, his foreign minister. Two papers, one from the Left and the other from the Right, called for his resignation in a demonstration of anger not seen since the political demise of Willy Brandt almost 30 years ago. "Never in the history of the federal republic has such a right and important position been represented so badly as the German No to the Iraq war," the Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote. The Berliner Zeitung called the chancellor "a hot-blooded amateur" and Die Welt accused the government of destroying decades of diplomatic effort to create an international profile for Germany. "No chancellor has ever done such damage to this country. Germany can no longer afford Schröder," it said. The Tagesspiegel also suggested that he might step down. "Will Schröder resign?" it asked. "[His] problem is not just the Iraq war [and] the economic lull, the problem is Schröder himself, that is, orientating policy towards oneself and one's self-portrayal." In an interview in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Edmund Stoiber, Mr Schröder's defeated conservative opponent in last year's elections, compared his "unprofessional action" to the disastrous foreign policy mistakes made by Kaiser Wilhelm II who was instrumental in sparking the First World War. He said it would take years for Germany to regain the trust of its allies. The existence of the plan, Project Mirage, caused a row between Berlin and Paris when it was published in Spiegel magazine on Saturday. The French Defence Ministry issued an angry denial which was swiftly followed by one from the German Chancellery, which added to the confusion yesterday by confirming the plan's existence. The original report outlined Project Mirage as a plan to disarm Iraq without recourse to war. An increasing number of reports are pointing to an "ice age" that has developed between Mr Schröder and Mr Fischer, his erstwhile close friend. Mr Fischer is reported to be furious that the chancellor has painted Germany into a corner over Iraq with his dogged insistence that it will not get involved in or support a war. While Mr Fischer was said to be behind Mr Schröder's ploy to use the anti-war position to secure victory in last autumn's elections, he is said to be appalled at the public relations fiasco of the past week or so. Mr Fischer is showing signs of frustration at failing to persuade Mr Schröder to be more flexible. A survey carried out by the polling institute Emnid and published yesterday indicated that 71 per cent of Germans count on their government to stick to its opposition to war against Iraq. Only 28 per cent thought Mr Schröder should become more involved in Iraq.Related reports
