Basic HTML Version
PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, December 12, 1980
Page 19
The mood in ruling circles of the SPD is so gloomy that Bonn's Ambassador
to Israel, Klaus Schuetz, after a private visit with Schmidt said, "I have
never experienced anything like this. I don't know how long it can go
on."
The same Spiegel article quoted above related how that Schmidt, in a meetÂ
ing with top labor union officials lamented, with heaviness, "Who knows
whether I will ever be able to last until Easter."
If Schmidt resigns sometime soon, the SPD will have to come up with a new
chancellor, assuming it can retain its coalition with the FDP. But the
SPD has no one of the same stature as Schmidt waiting in the wings. What
if the FDP pulls out, to join ranks with the conservative CDU/CSU? Where
would Strauss fit in?
Gene H. Hogberg, News Bureau