Letter from Berlin: Germany's Lonely Chancellor

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The latest salvo has come from the southern state of Bavaria. The governor of Bavaria, CSU leader Horst Seehofer, has attacked Merkel with a ferocity that resembles a declaration of war. "There are times when I really have to control myself so that I don't fly off the handle," he told the daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung last week. He also suggested that he might not be as likely to hold back in the future.

And as if to prove that his threats were more than just words, Seehofer promptly joined Hesse Governor Roland Koch, a member of the CDU, in the upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat, in opposing the government's plans to increase financial aid for students. In the days following the conservatives' dramatic defeat in the state election in North Rhine-Westphalia on May 9, Koch had already placed himself at the head of a group of disgruntled CDU governors.

The CDU/CSU members of parliament are not venting their anger quite as openly. Nevertheless, there is palpable resentment among them at being asked to approve a second huge bailout within just a few weeks. "When we look at the increasing number of decisions that are being portrayed as being without an alternative, we are left with no room to maneuver whatsoever," CDU domestic policy expert Wolfgang Bosbach warned in the weekly news magazine Focus. CSU lawmaker Peter Gauweiler, who voted against the bailout package on Friday, says: "If we're told that there are no alternatives, we might as well abandon politics altogether. Politics, in fact, means setting directions."

The opposition already feels that the Bundestag has been degraded to a rubber-stamping body. In Friday's parliamentary debate ahead of the vote, SPD Chairman Sigmar Gabriel vented his fury by launching unusually sharp attacks. He accused Merkel of having "no line and no goal" and of playing tactical games that her EU partners were tired of. The chancellor, Gabriel said, had embarrassed herself internationally. Referring to her first term as head of a grand coalition between the CDU and SPD, he said: "You were a courageous chancellor only while you were being watched over by Social Democrats."

Tensions in Coalition

Merkel could easily have greeted such attacks from the opposition with a wan smile, but she was noticeably uneasy during Gabriel's comments, fidgeting in her chair. The attacks have hit home because there is a kernel of truth to them.

The references to the grand coalition have also had their effect on Merkel. She knows that she has severely strained relations with her current coalition partner, the FDP, by trying to secure SPD support for the Greek bailout and the euro rescue plan.

Merkel's relationship with Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, the head of the FDP, gives an indication of the tensions within their coalition. In recent weeks, there has been no evidence of the Merkel/Westerwelle duo. "In the past, there was the Merkel/Müntefering axis," says one FDP member, referring to Merkel's cordial relations with former SPD leader Franz Müntefering in the days of the grand coalition. "But where exactly is the axis in the current coalition?" Officially, the relationship is described as "collegial and friendly," which doesn't exactly sound euphoric.

On Friday afternoon, Merkel held a press conference with Britain's new prime minister, David Cameron, who was on an inaugural trip to Berlin after having visited Paris on Thursday. Even though they have an array of differences on Europe, she seemed pleased to be standing side by side with a new Conservative head of government. Perhaps Merkel identified with Cameron, who like her has formed a coalition with a smaller liberal party. It was a first for Britain, where only one party at a time has consistently controlled the government since World War II. For the first time, says Merkel, she was now able to discuss coalitions with a British prime minister.

She couldn't have had much good news to report to Cameron.

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• Part 1: Germany's Lonely Chancellor
• Part 2: Growing Criticism From Own Ranks