Lafontaine Second-Most Influential German Politician

[Praetorian]

Lafontaine Second-Most Influential German Politician

Oskar Lafontaine, the German ex- minister who was once dubbed Europe's ``most dangerous man'' before re-emerging as leader of the Left Party, is the country's second-most influential politician, according to a survey.

German executives and politicians polled by market researchers Allensbach GmbH rated Lafontaine, 64, second only to Chancellor Angela Merkel in his power to sway political opinion, overshadowing Social Democrat leaders such as Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Kurt Beck, the party's chairman.

The merger of two opposition groups to form the Left Party last year is eroding support for the SPD, one half of Merkel's coalition, said Allensbach Chairwoman Renate Koecher in Berlin today. Led by Lafontaine, the Left's assault on the SPD's policy record ``poses a grave risk to the party,'' she told reporters.

Voter support for the Left Party has climbed steadily this year to about 14 percent from 10 percent a year ago. The SPD, joint signatories of the ruling coalition's economic and social policy, has shed as many as 5 percentage points in the polls since last year, to hover around 25 percent.

Inflation, fuelled by oil prices, is eroding consumer spending in Germany, adding to signs that growth is slowing. The economy may have shrunk in the second quarter, the Finance Ministry said yesterday. A Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung survey published on the same day showed companies may have shed more workers in the first six months than they hired.

Disgruntled

The developments may help politicians like Lafontaine to appeal to voters' dissatisfaction, according to Koecher.

Asked by Allensbach to say which politician excepting Merkel leaves the biggest mark on opinion, some 39 percent of the 650 respondents named Lafontaine. Steinbrueck gained 27 percent and Steinmeier won 15 percent.

In a speech this May at his party's first convention, Lafontaine outlined proposals to ban hedge funds, set up a government ratings company and outlaw manager stock options, which he said cause companies to shed ``thousands of workers'' to drive up share values.

``That's the perversity of financial-market driven capitalism,'' Lafontaine told delegates. Addressing the influence of the markets is ``the central question of our time,'' he said, adding that his party would fight federal elections next year on a platform to increase welfare.

Lafontaine's tenure as former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's SPD finance minister in 1998 caused the U.K.-based newspaper The Sun to name him Europe's most dangerous man. He left the party in 2005.

Allensbach polled 650 people between June 30 and July 15 to compile its survey. The institute claims its respondents included top executives of German companies with at least 20,000 employees, state politicians and leaders of the main political parties.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...&refer=germany

[toccata]

Hoe zit het in Duitsland?
Ik las ergens dat Der Grunen liever met CDU dan SPD/Die Linke wilden in coalitie gaan