Wolfgang Schauble yesterday bowed to the deafening clamour in his party for “a new beginning”, and announced he was stepping down as chairman of Germany’s scandal-ridden Christian Democrats.
His departure should finally put an end to the era of Helmut Kohl, as the party looks for a new generation of leaders untainted by the sleaze it has been swimming in for the past quarter of a century. Mr Schäuble had promised to clean up the mess left behind by the former chancellor, only to be submerged in it himself.”The CDU finds itself in the deepest crisis in its history,” Mr Schäuble said in a brief statement yesterday. Those were the very words he had used when, a month ago, he had called on Mr Kohl to name his secret donors or resign as “honorary chairman”. Mr Kohl did the latter, and it was then only a matter of time before his former protégé would be forced to follow him into retirement.Is is fitting that the two politicians who ran Germany together for more than a decade should also leave the stage almost simultaneously Mr Schäuble had served Mr Kohl as his self-effacing deputy. He never appeared to question Mr Kohl’s judgement.His loyalty was finally rewarded in the autumn of 1998 when Mr Kohl, defeated in the general elections, resigned as party leader and proposed Mr Schäuble to succeed him.

But the new job turned into a bed of nails.Mr Schäuble, looking mightily relieved yesterday, preferred to dwell in his farewell statement on the high points. Against the shambolic government of Gerhard Schröder, the Christian Democrats amassed triumph after triumph in local and regional elections. Under Mr Schäuble, the CDU had no new policies, but did not seem to need any while Chancellor Schröder’s “chaos troops” were driving the voters into the arms of the opposition.The winning sequence came to a sudden halt as the first revelations about Mr Kohl’s slush funds began to trickle out last autumn. Mr Kohl is facing a criminal investigation.Mr Schäuble has also been caught lying about past misdeeds, as the whiff of corruption descends to virtually all senior CDU politicians of his generation. The party leader spent the past weeks issuing denials, clarifications and clarified denials.

In the end it all looked terribly undignified.Now Christian Democrats have just two months before their party congress to come up with a replacement. Angela Merkel, the 45-year-old east German, is top of the list.Ms Merkel had been groomed for greater things by Mr Kohl but she was wise enough to cut the umbilical cord to her political godfather sooner than most of her contemporaries considered decent. She is a capable general secretary but nothing more and many Christian Democrats believe that what they need now is a star.Perhaps they will be tempted by Christian Wulff, the flashy 41-year-old CDU leader of Lower Saxony. Mr Wulff had rebelled against Mr Kohl when few others had dared. That should have ensured he did not benefit from the slush funds earmarked for the chancellor’s stooges.Mr Wulff, an advocate of the free market and Anglo-Saxon capitalism, is on the right flank of the party. He has, though, little experience of national politics, other than being trounced twice by Mr Schröder on home turf. The chancellor also comes from Lower Saxony.The rising star of the moment is Friedrich Merz, a 44-year finance expert regarded by his peers as one of the most brilliant MPs in Germany.

Mr Merz is tipped to be elected next week as head of the party’s parliamentary group – one of the two posts vacated by Mr Schäuble. That will give him a mere two months of national attention, should he decide to throw his hat in the ring for the top job.The people’s choice would be Kurt Biedenkopf, once Mr Kohl’s deadliest rival But impressive as he is, Mr Biedenkopf is 70 years old. Clean, clever, guaranteed anti-Kohl, but hardly a “new beginning”.. Europe is to offer Nato access to the highest level of defence decision-making in an effort to assuage American fears over plans to set up a 60,000-strong “rapid reaction force”. Europe is to offer Nato access to the highest level of defence decision-making in an effort to assuage American fears over plans to set up a 60,000-strong “rapid reaction force”.
Proposals under discussion in Brussels and London last night would allow key Nato military personnel permanent seats or observer status on Europe’s most important military committees.The move would ensure a firm link between the top military brass in Nato and the EU.