German right asks: Is Merkel conservative enough?

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's Angela Merkel faces growing criticism from conservatives that her centrist stance on emotive issues like immigration could create an opening for a new right-wing party that would undermine her government.

As the centre-right chancellor met leaders of her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) on Monday, politicians, pollsters and the media said she would face worried questions about whether the ruling party was conservative enough for its own supporters.

"What if Christians didn't vote for the CDU any more...," mused a banner held by a small group of protesters outside the meeting.

The "Union" grouping Merkel's CDU and its sister CSU have ruled in partnership with the liberal Free Democrats since late 2009 but support for the entire coalition has plummeted.

Conservative disaffection that simmered during Merkel's "Grand Coalition" with the centre left from 2005-2009 may be reaching boiling point, heated partly by some public rows about sensitive subjects like immigration, military service, tax cuts, nuclear power and even Germany's role in World War Two.

Klaus-Peter Schoeppner of the Emnid polling outfit said up to a third of those who voted for the CDU last year would now withhold support, with 70 percent of those polled barely able to see the difference between the CDU and the Social Democrats.

He put the cat among the pigeons by telling one paper that a new conservative party could count on perhaps 20 percent of the vote, saying: "The right flank of the party is vulnerable."

"LONELY" ON THE RIGHT

Party heavyweights tried to shoot down talk of a group emerging like the "Tea Party" movement on the American right.

Saxony state premier Stanislaw Tillich said there was "room in the Union for all factions, including conservatives" and his colleague from Lower Saxony, David McAllister, said there was "no need for a party to the right of the CDU."

Some disaffected right-wingers disagree. Erika Steinbach fell out with the CDU leadership last week over her defence of lobbyists who blamed Poland for the outbreak of the war. Another conservative leader, Roland Koch, left politics last month.

As a conservative in the CDU, Steinbach said she felt "more and more alone," adding: "If someone with charisma set out to found a new, really conservative party, they would easily overcome the 5 percent hurdle (for entering parliament)."

Steinbach said the party leadership showed how out of touch it was with conservatives by criticising German central banker Thilo Sarrazin for comments on Muslim immigrants and Jews which forced his resignation from the Bundesbank last week.

Polls suggest widespread sympathy for Sarrazin and Steinbach said it was a mistake to attack him "like the left wingers."

The CSU, which like the CDU is traditionally dominated by Catholic Bavarian men rather than Protestant women from the east like Merkel, would also welcome a more conservative approach.

"You get the feeling some people in the CDU consider the centre of the field to be in the left half," said one senior CSU party figure, Alexander Dobrindt.

There is plenty of precedent for new conservative parties popping up in post-war Germany, as opposed to far-right fringe parties, which also exist, but most were a flash in the pan.

However, Merkel can ill afford even fleeting competition for CDU votes ahead of crucial state elections in 2011 including industrial Baden-Wuerttemberg, which the CDU has run since 1953 but now risks losing to the centre left and Greens.

"If this happened it would not just be a setback for the regional CDU but a political disaster for Angela Merkel and her leadership," said Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily, adding: "It won't take much for a five-party system to become a six-party system."

(Editing by Charles Dick)

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