Merkel brushes off Berlin setback, urges coalition unity

Sep 19, 2011, 12:33 GMT

Berlin - Chancellor Angela Merkel brushed off Monday her latest setback in German regional elections and called for the three parties in her governing coalition to sink their differences and cooperate.

Merkel was making her first comment after the election Sunday in the city-state of Berlin, where her own Christian Democratic Union (CDU) finished a distant second and its federal-coalition ally, the Free Democratic Party (FDP), won no seats at all.

'I believe we are going to continue our work of government. I don't believe anything will be more difficult,' she told a news conference, while admitting the CDU was at odds with both the FDP and its southern sister party, the Christian Social Union.

Merkel affirmed she would press ahead with bailouts and setting up a eurozone safety net for weak borrowers.

'To overcome the euro crisis is a mission on an historic scale,' she said, adding later, 'If the euro fails, the European Union fails.'

Merkel has been annoyed by the FDP leader, Economics Minister Philipp Roesler, calling for eurozone nations to be allowed to go insolvent, an option she rejects. She called anew Monday for government officials to 'weigh their words.'

'We must not undertake anything where the outcome cannot be calculated. That is my approach. That applies in every direction, even in my own party,' she said.

She added that she disagreed with proposals by the other coalition party, the Bavaria-only Christian Social Union (CSU), to let failing countries leave the eurozone.

'In this case a difference of opinion exists. It is not the first time in history there has been a difference between the CDU and CSU,' she said. 'If it is like that, we'll talk about it. We have always found mutual solutions.'

In the Berlin poll, the Social Democrats of incumbent Mayor Klaus Wowereit won 28.3 per cent of votes. The CDU took 23.4 per cent, the Green Party 17.6, the Left Party 11.7 and the FDP 1.8 per cent of the vote.

The pro-Merkel parties have seen their support fade or only grow slightly in a series of elections in the states this year.

The Pirate Party, a fringe libertarian party advocating free internet access, won 8.9 per cent, the first time it has won seats in any German legislature. Merkel said she regarded its supporters as 'classic protest' voters.