VZCZCXRO6524
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHLZ
RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHDF #0035/01 2211422
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 081422Z AUG 08
FM AMCONSUL DUSSELDORF
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0161
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE
RUEHDF/AMCONSUL DUSSELDORF 0177

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 DUSSELDORF 000035 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ECON ELAB GM
SUBJECT: ANATOMY OF A CRISIS: EXPULSION PROCEEDINGS VS. CLEMENT 
DIVIDE SPD 
 
DUSSELDORF 00000035  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary: The controversy in the SPD that has dominated 
Germany's domestic political news since the North 
Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) party decided on July 30 to expel ex-NRW 
Minister President and Federal Economics Minister Wolfgang 
Clement has abated somewhat after he issued something of an 
apology on August 7, but not enough to end the matter.  This 
affair is both symptomatic of and an aggravating factor in the 
SPD's current crisis, both in NRW and nationally.  At its center 
remain hot-button issues ranging from energy policy to Agenda 
2010 to cooperation with the Left Party.  While national SPD 
leaders engage in a major political damage limitation exercise, 
Clement appealed the decision to the national level, which will 
reportedly not hear the case until September, ensuring that 
debate over party policy and direction will continue.  NRW State 
Chair Hannelore Kraft and National Chair Kurt Beck have been 
weakened, as both were late to recognize the damage this 
local/regional affair would have on the party as a whole.  End 
Summary. 
 
Op-Ed Piece Causes Uproar, Triggers Expulsion Request 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) The Clement affair began with a January 20 op-ed piece 
for "Welt am Sonntag," followed by a statement on a TV talk show 
on January 23, when the former NRW MP and Federal 
"Superminister" during the Schroeder government criticized 
Hessian state chair Andrea Ypsilanti for rejecting nuclear as 
well as coal-fired power plants and urged voters not to support 
her in the January 27 state elections.  This caused an outcry in 
the NRW SPD and beyond that he had "stabbed the party in the 
back," along with calls for his expulsion from SPD left wingers 
who opposed his strong support for the unpopular Agenda 2010. 
These activists saw this as a chance to rid the party of one of 
its more outspoken Hartz IV labor market reformers.  Clement 
(68), who over his 25-year political career held many of the 
most senior posts in NRW and nationally (National SPD spokesman, 
National SPD Vice Chairman, Chief of the NRW State Chancellery, 
and NRW Minister President, as well as Federal Economics and 
Labor Minister), has for years been one of the party's most 
pro-business leaders.  In 2007, two years after leaving the 
Schroeder government, he joined the supervisory board of 
Essen-based RWE Power, which operates nuclear and coal-fired 
power plants throughout Germany. 
 
Affair Simmers, for Months 
---------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (U) As Clement had joined the SPD in the Ruhr city of Bochum 
almost 40 years ago and is still a card-carrying member in a 
local SPD chapter (although he has long lived in Bonn), the 
party there initiated proceedings to expel him, on the grounds 
that he had damaged party interests and violated inner-party 
solidarity.  Other chapters joined the petition, including the 
Frankfurt SPD sub-district, where Ypsilanti lives.  The affair 
simmered for months at the local level, without making national 
headlines.  On April 23, a local arbitration commission rejected 
the expulsion request and issued a reprimand instead.  Both 
Clement and the petitioners appealed this decision with the SPD 
state arbitration board in Duesseldorf, which on July 12 heard 
the case, with Clement and ex-Interior Minister Otto Schily as 
his legal counsel.  Clement then said he would reconcile himself 
to a reprimand, but when the panel requested assurances that he 
cease making similar statements as in the Ypsilanti case in the 
future, he declined. 
 
State and National Party Leadership Taken by Surprise 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
¶4.  (U) Clement's refusal prompted the NRW SPD Arbitration 
Commission's July 30 expulsion decision, which came as a 
complete surprise, both to the NRW and the national SPD 
leadership, both of which expected the reprimand to stand. 
Obviously shaken Kraft explained on July 31 that the NRW SPD 
governing board had intentionally stayed out of the case lest it 
increase attention to it (although party statutes allow leaders 
to participate, even if the Arbitration Board is autonomous in 
its final decision).  It took more than 36 hours before national 
SPD leaders reacted to this explosive development in NRW that 
shattered hopes of getting through the summer lull without 
negative headlines.  After a vague statement by Secretary 
General Hubertus Heil, it took SPD national Vice Chair (and 
likely 2009 SPD Chancellor candidate) Frank-Walter Steinmeier to 
address the case on August 1 in "Spiegel," calling it "not 
encouraging, but luckily not the last word in this affair" and 
defending Clement as an "out-of-the-box thinker" with great 
merits for the party who should not be forced to leave it. 
 
A Divided Party and a Slow and Weak Reaction by its Chairman 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
------- 
 
 
DUSSELDORF 00000035  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶5.  (U) Since then, two major camps have emerged in the SPD, 
with Steinmeier's support for Clement followed by other party 
leaders, notably national Vice Chair and Finance Minister Peer 
Steinbrueck, his predecessor Hans Eichel, former national chair 
Franz Muentefering and Hans-Jochen Vogel, SPD Bundestag floor 
leader Peter Struck, numerous SPD Bundestag deputies, and 
others.  Clement's opponents on the party's left wing include 
lesser known but vocal figures, including Bjoern Boehning, 
Schleswig-Holstein state chair Ralf Stegner, NRW deputy state 
chair Jochen Ott, and Bundestag backbenchers deputies Pronold, 
Tauss and Scheer (also a member of Ypsilanti's shadow cabinet), 
and the former chairman of the SPD's Basic Values Commission 
Erhard Eppler.  Since then, German media have been filled with 
debate between these wings at all levels, not only on how to 
treat Clement, but also on larger issues of party identity and 
direction. 
 
¶6.  (U) It took Beck until late August 2 to take a public 
stance, with "Focus" newsweekly reporting that he had even asked 
colleagues to refrain from comment so as not to aggravate the 
situation.  This strategy quickly failed and his first public 
statement called for calm, commenting that although no one could 
claim special rights, Clement's lifetime achievements for the 
party had to be taken into account.  Beck proposed that the 
party national executive committee join the proceedings against 
Clement as a third party.  Since then, Beck has repeatedly 
denied that the debate is about policy and strategy, insisting 
that it is only about how to deal with Clement's breach of party 
discipline, despite the fact that the conflict has long since 
expanded to such issues. 
 
¶7.  (U) Beck's proposal was unanimously adopted on August 4, 
with Secretary General Heil charged with representing the 
leadership in the proceedings to ensure that the overall 
interests of the party are properly taken into account.  On the 
same day, several NRW newspapers published a letter to Beck by 
the five local chapters from Bochum, in which they declared that 
they were retracting their request for Clement's expulsion under 
the proviso that he accept a reprimand for his conduct and 
declare that he would refrain from similar actions in the 
future.  Clement again rejected this compromise proposal, 
prompting widespread charges that his stubbornness was damaging 
the party.  The national arbitration board will reportedly meet 
in September to consider the case and make a final decision. 
(Note:  Theoretically, it has 6 months to do so.  End Note.) 
 
Clement Conciliatory 
--------------------- 
 
¶8.  (U) After Clement for weeks refused to budge in his 
opposition to Ypsilanti and the Hessian SPD, he struck 
conciliatory tones at an August 7 press conference.  Regretting 
"if through the timing of my comments Hessian party colleagues 
felt left in the lurch," he apologized for "possibly having hurt 
their feelings."  He emphasized that his comments were meant to 
point out the importance of energy security and denied that he 
had made an appeal not to vote for the SPD.  He said he would 
accept the national arbitration panel's decision and wanted to 
remain a member of the SPD.  This new flexibility is reportedly 
due to the influence of Steinbrueck, Clement's personal friend 
and neighbor in Bonn, who succeeded him as NRW Minister 
President in 2002.  Clement has indirectly confirmed this, 
saying that persons close to him had advised him to hold the 
press conference.  Beck and other party leaders welcomed 
Clement's declaration as "a good signal." 
 
Comment 
---------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU) The Clement affair -- and the slow and indecisive 
manner in which SPD leaders in Duesseldorf and Berlin have 
handled it -- is the latest example of the crisis in the SPD 
(record low voter support projections, declining membership, 
questions about Beck's leadership and the party's commitment to 
the Agenda 2010 reforms, unresolved issue of how to deal with 
the Left Party).  The intra-party strife that emerged has only 
aggravated matters.  Clement's conciliatory tone has defused the 
issue somewhat, but the underlying policy differences are not 
resolved.  Whatever the Arbitration Commission decides, both NRW 
State Chair Hannelore Kraft and national chairman Kurt Beck have 
been weakened, as both were late in recognizing the damaging 
effects this originally local and regional affair would have on 
the party as a whole.  An ARD-TV/Die Welt poll confirmed these 
observations on August 8, with 76 percent of Germans rejecting 
the idea of expelling Clement and only 16 percent considering 
such a step correct, and 47 percent of Germans believing the 
Clement affair has damaged the SPD's reputation.  The SPD 
therefore enters the last 12 months before the Bundestag 
elections next fall weakened, although it is early to speculate 
what effect this will have on the party's election chances. 
 
 
DUSSELDORF 00000035  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶10.  (U) This message has been coordinated with Embassy Berlin. 
BOYSE