Schroeder move surprises press

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's call for early elections after his party's defeat in state elections has taken the German press by surprise.

"This is a political sensation!" exclaims the mass-circulation daily Bild, of the announcement following the defeat of Mr Schroeder's Social Democratic Party in the regional election in North Rhine-Westphalia.

"It means that Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is taking the bull by the horns," the paper says.

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung believes the chancellor and the leader of his party, Franz Muentefering, hatched the plan in complete secrecy.

Schroeder barely had any choice but to take the bull by the horns Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

The paper suggests that even the Greens, the Social Democrats' coalition partner in both North Rhine-Westphalia and the federal government, were left in the dark.

"What did the Greens know? What did ministers know? What did the party leadership know? Presumably nothing," it suggests.

"At least they can still surprise us," the paper says of Gerhard Schroeder and Franz Muentefering.

Social Democrats 'on brink of disaster'

It sees the move as meant to mobilize the party's "last reserves" and deflect attention from the election defeat.

"Calling fresh elections," the paper explains, "means going on the offensive, being on the attack... (and) hoping that this may cause turbulence in the (opposition Christian) Union parties," the paper says.

But the chancellor is "on uncertain ground", it warns, and the Social Democrats are "on the brink of disaster".

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung argues that the chancellor had little choice.

The paper points out that the election defeat in what - with a population of 18 million - is Germany's most populous state, is almost equivalent to the combined effect of the Social Democrats' loss of five other states since 1999.

"After this seismic shift," it says, "Schroeder barely had any choice but to take the bull by the horns if he did not want to give up on the next general election altogether."

As the paper sees it, his only other options would have been to change his coalition partner or to resign.

'Good for the country'

Die Welt describes the decision to call for early elections as a "dramatic gesture" which is good for the country.

"The Social Democratic Party wants to fight and the Union parties have accepted the challenge," the paper notes.

"This is good for a country in need of making up its mind about whom it wants to determine its future - and with no time to lose in this regard," it says.

Die Tageszeitung says the election call may have wrongfooted the opposition.

This amounts to suicide with a run-up Austria's Die Presse

The paper says the Christian Union parties have so far failed to develop coherent plans to resolve the country's most urgent problems.

"They will now have to draw them up in something of a hurry," it warns.

In Austria, Die Presse is in no doubt about the result of any fresh elections.

"The fact that the Social Democrats are now bringing forward the general election by one year is amounts to suicide with a run-up," the paper says.

It argues that a change of government would be good for Germany because Gerhard Schroeder's team has been unable to give the country the "boost in motivation" which it needs.

'No clear direction'

But Austria's Der Standard says the message sent out by the election in North Rhine-Westphalia is far from clear.

"Above all it carries no signal as to the political direction in which Germany should move," the paper says.

It observes that German voters are unhappy with the level of unemployment as well as the government's labour market reforms.

"In most cases," it says, "they are probably clear in their minds that there is no alternative to radical reforms, but instinctively they want to close their eyes to uncomfortable truths".