By Dave Graham
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's Social Democratic (SPD) challenger to Chancellor Angela Merkel in a September vote launched the SPD's election manifesto with a stinging attack on his rival he hopes will end a slump in support for the party.
In his fiercest assault on Merkel of the campaign, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said a vote for her conservatives would reward those who helped create the crisis that has plunged Germany into its sharpest postwar recession.
He told some 500 delegates the SPD deserved the credit for organising a rescue of General Motors' European unit Opel, which culminated in the government brokering a preliminary deal for a takeover by Canadian auto parts group Magna.
Playing on remarks attributed to Merkel that she had described the firm as "not systemically relevant," he attacked her conservatives and their preferred coalition partners, the market-liberal Free Democrats (FDP), as cold and out of touch.
"I looked the Opel workers in the eyes. I saw their fear. But I also saw the hopes they had in politicians -- and I'm not going to say to anyone who's in need that you're not relevant to the system," Steinmeier said to loud applause.
The biggest cheers went up when he accused his rivals of laying the groundwork for the global crisis.
"The conservatives and the FDP cannot be granted a majority because the ideology that got us into this crisis can't be the answer to the crisis," Steinmeier said.
The white-haired 53-year-old, who has never been elected to office, has come under increasing fire in the media since the SPD suffered its worst postwar national poll result in the European election, claiming just 20.8 percent of the vote.
However, analysts said his assured address on Sunday ought to help put an end to the slide in support for the SDP, which hopes to end its uneasy grand coalition in September's federal election by defeating Merkel's conservatives.
"It won't have done any harm, indeed it's more likely to help give the SPD back some of their self-confidence," said Ulrich von Alemann, a political scientist at the University of Duesseldorf.
BLUE COLLAR SUPPORT
The party also passed its election manifesto, a blend of tax cuts for low earners, environmentally-friendly policies and pledges to save jobs the SPD hopes will recover voters it has lost since entering a coalition with the conservatives in 2005.
The SPD has struggled to retain support among its traditional blue-collar base since pushing through a series of swingeing welfare cuts and pro-business reforms that sparked mass protests under previous Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
On the left, the SPD has also had to contend with the more radical Left party -- fronted by ex-SPD leader Oskar Lafontaine -- which has become fixture on the political landscape.
A survey by ZDF television published on Friday said if the federal vote was held this weekend, the SPD would win only 25 percent of the vote, which would easily be the party's weakest showing since the foundation of West Germany in 1949.
However, political scientist Alemann said it was by no means certain that the SPD would be out of office come October.
"As things stand it's very unlikely the SPD will appoint the chancellor," he said. "But it's certainly possible there will be another grand coalition. My personal view is that a grand coalition is more likely (than a conservative-FDP government)."
