Westerwelle Searching for a Role
Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle is still searching for a role. Squeezed between Chancellor Merkel and her glamorous Minister of Defence, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, the leader of the Free Democrats still hasn’t found his place in the new government.
It is not a question of miles. Westerwelle seems to constantly spend his time on airplanes – but doesn’t hit the headlines. He lacks an agenda that would make him more visible in Berlin and abroad.
His major mission so far has been the opposition to the nomination of Erika Steinbach, the controversial President of the Bund der Vertriebenen (”Federation of Expellees”) to the board of the Stiftung “Flucht, Vertreibung, Versöhnung” (Foundation “Flight, Expulsion, Reconciliation”). (See DW-world.de)
It is indeed worth questioning whether Ms Steinbach’s presence in the board would serve the foundation’s objective of reconciliation. But this is an old debate that has started to bore politics and media – and that has helped Steinbach to gain greater attention than she actually deserves.
Westerwelle also bores Ulrich Speck, a Brussels based analyst and blogger who started the “Westerwelle Watch” blog after his nomination as foreign minister in October 2009. In the meantime, Speck has transferred the blog into a wider forum on German foreign policy.
Today, Westerwelle made a new attempt: During his second tour to the Middle East he made a surprise visit to Yemen. (See Deutsche Welle and Spiegel Online International)
The advantage of Yemen is that it already MADE it to the big headlines over the last weeks. It looks as if the foreign minister is hoping for a free ride.