• Print
• E-Mail
• Feedback

03/15/2010

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle can't seem to get anything right these days, not even a goodbye. The high point of his trip to South America came in a slightly shabby conference room in São Paulo. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was en route to Chile, had set aside some time to meet with the German foreign minister. It was a strong gesture, one that Westerwelle had been hoping for, knowing that it would increase the value of his visit. The two men spoke for half an hour, and officials said afterwards that it had been a good discussion. As they were saying their goodbyes, Westerwelle approached Lula, arms outstretched, and tried to embrace the president. Lula smiled amiably and turned his body slightly to the side, so that the two men ended up in an awkward embrace.

The scene at the end of Westerwelle's meeting with Lula is part of a long series of relatively harmless mishaps. Everything he does seems inappropriate or exaggerated. He's not behaving in a way one would expect of a foreign minister.

At first Westerwelle caused controversy by describing calls for higher welfare benefits as "late Roman decadence." Then it was revealed that he and his partner, Michael Mronz, an event planner, were involved in a ceremony to mark the opening of a hotel in Bonn; that he takes Mronz with him on official trips where it's unclear if Mronz is accompanying him for private reasons or because he hopes to drum up business; that he likes to invite people who have contributed to his party, the Free Democratic Party (FDP), to join him on official trips; and that a business partner of his brother, Kai Westerwelle, was given a seat on his official plane. SPIEGEL has now learned that Westerwelle is surrounded by a network of business people with close ties to the FDP, and that one of them was recently appointed to a senior position in the foreign ministry.

Is Westerwelle Fit to Be Foreign Minister?

All of this is at the very least odd, if not dubious, and yet none of these cases is criminal. Nevertheless, taken together, these cases raise the question whether Westerwelle is suitable to serve as foreign minister. A majority of Germans now think that he is not. Poll respondents on the ZDF television network's regular Politbarometer opinion poll give Westerwelle a rating of minus 0.9, which is absurdly bad for a foreign minister. German foreign ministers usually enjoy high approval ratings because they represent the country in a statesmanlike fashion, and because citizens are unlikely to feel the financial effects of any of the decisions they make.

For this reason, foreign ministers, in particular, are pillars of democracy. But Westerwelle has not managed to slip into this role. Instead, he has become a burden for Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government of Christian Democrats (CDU) and the FDP. Despite rising approval ratings for Merkel, her coalition has already lost its majority in opinion polls, both at national level and in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where an election will be held in May.

Many newspaper commentaries about Westerwelle last Saturday showed a degree of animosity that there hasn't been toward a German foreign minister for a long time. "The FDP leader is the main cause of unrest in this government, and therefore its greatest liability," wrote the Stuttgarter Zeitung. The Hessische/Niedersächsische Allgemeine sharply criticized Westerwelle, calling him "a wrong choice for foreign minister." And Munich's Abendzeitung wrote: "He comes across as a brash and stubborn person intent on pleasing his clientele, and as someone who treats the state as a self-service shop."

For the first time, Germany has a foreign minister who doesn't know how to do his job. In his years in the opposition, Westerwelle engaged in crude populism and built a network of close ties to the business community. He should have severed those ties immediately after taking office, but he was both unwilling and unable to do so. This is why so much of what he says and does now seems completely wrong.

Suspicions of Cronyism

For example, as foreign minister he should have given careful thoughtful to his ties with some of his friends from the business community, necause they are giving rise to suspicions of cronyism. At the center of this network is Cornelius Boersch, founder of a company called Mountain Partners AG, in St. Gallen, Switzerland. At the end of the last millennium, Boersch, with his former company, chipmaker ACG, was one of the pioneers of the New Market, a stock market segment for up-and-coming technology stocks. "Conny," as his associates call him, is "a brilliant salesman and a good networker," says one of his business partners. Otto Beisheim, 86, the billionaire founder of German retailer Metro, became an investor. Boersch went on to invest in promising technology companies.

During his rise to prominence in the business world, Boersch also enhanced his involvement with the FDP. He was not interested in positions in the party, but he wanted to play a role in shaping it. He donated money, organized donor galas and advised Westerwelle on issues of economic policy.

Last year, Boersch and Westerwelle published a book together, a foreign policy manifesto of sorts. "We are firmly convinced that globalization is a strong ally of the liberals," they wrote. When Westerwelle became foreign minister, they began to put their ideas into practice.

On one of his first major trips abroad, which took him to Arab countries, Westerwelle explained the shift in dogma. In a speech in Qatar, he said that it was part of "good German foreign policy" to "open doors for the economy and develop new markets." In concrete terms, this translated into Boersch giving a dinner in Riyadh that was attended by the "who's who of Saudi society," as one guest said enthusiastically. In a speech Westerwelle gave during his tour of Persian Gulf countries, he said: "Politics and business are not contradictions, but are closely intertwined."

That may be so. The pro-FDP business leaders with ties to Boersch also include Jörg Arntz, who Westerwelle appointed to head the high-level "06 Coordination" working group at the Foreign Ministry. His responsibilities include promoting foreign business development and cooperation. With an MBA degree from the Otto Beisheim School of Management, the 34-year-old Arntz's work experience includes stints in consulting and advertising, as well as a position with Gamebookers Limited, a company specializing in sports betting and online casinos, in the island nation and Caribbean tax haven of Antigua and Barbuda. In January 2006, the company offered an unusual online gambling opportunity: a bet on whether Westerwelle would marry his domestic partner, Mronz -- with odds of 3.5:1 in favor of a wedding taking place within the year.

• 1
• | 2
• Next

• Part 1: Network of Business Ties Raises Doubts About Westerwelle
• Part 2: Web of Business Contacts