Waigel Sticks to Cabinet Shuffle
As Stoiber Adds Detail to EMU

By SILVIA ASCARELLI
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

FRANKFURT -- German Finance Minister Theo Waigel continued pushing for a cabinet shuffle Thursday, holding the central spotlight in Bonn's annual summer theatrics.

Meanwhile, Bavarian Minister-President Edmund Stoiber, a fellow member of the Christian Social Union, proposed delaying the unified European currency for two years if either France or Germany doesn't fulfill the eligibility criteria "to the letter." While Mr. Stoiber has frequently called for a delay, this is the first time he has been specific about the length of any postponement.

A spokesman for Mr. Stoiber said that while Mr. Waigel knows of the idea, contingency plan is only Mr. Stoiber's.

Growing Frustration

Mr. Waigel's demands, meanwhile, were once again rebuffed by other members of Chancellor Helmut Kohl's ruling coalition, even as another CSU official insisted they would be on the agenda of next month's strategy session with Mr. Kohl's Christian Democrats.

For the moment, the headlines are just part of Bonn's summer show, analysts said. "There's a good tradition here in Germany that in the summer, politicians try to push themes that are near to their hearts, because they have the time and the media attention," said Thomas Mayer, chief German economist with Goldman, Sachs & Co.

But he and others said Mr. Waigel's repeated calls for a cabinet shuffle -- despite a public refusal from Mr. Kohl -- underline the finance minister's growing frustration with what is increasingly becoming a no-win job. The unified-currency project has little popular support within Germany, and the Christian Social Union fears losing its majority rule in Bavarian state elections a year from now. And with the country increasingly unlikely to meet a strict reading of the budgetary limits laid out in the Maastricht treaty for economic and monetary union, Mr. Waigel will increasingly be the indirect target of Mr. Stoiber's attacks. The two are political rivals in the CSU, the sister party to Mr. Kohl's Christian Democrats, where they hold the most-senior jobs.

Job Speculation Denied

Should Mr. Waigel end his tenure as Germany's longest-serving finance minister, the job likely would be passed on to a member of the junior Free Democrats, analysts said. That would force the FDP to take more responsibility for fiscal policy. Mr. Waigel has become increasingly irritated with that party's insistence on a reduction in the so-called solidarity income-tax surcharge -- leaving him to plug the funding hole.

But in an interview with the mass-circulation Bild Zeitung published on Thursday, Mr. Waigel insisted that he likes his job and isn't looking to become foreign minister, as many have speculated. "I'm talking about something else," he said. "It is already clear that one or two ministers ... in the government want to quit after the next general election. It is legitimate to say: Let's bring forward these changes, which would be necessary anyway after the (September 1998 national) elections, to help the coalition."

Mr. Stoiber, meanwhile, told the French financial daily La Tribune that should either Germany or France fail to meet the Maastricht criteria, the best solution would be to take another two years to do so and reduce the three-year transition period currently planned. Mr. Stoiber argued that exchange rates could be fixed on Jan. 1, 2001, instead of Jan. 1, 1999, and that the new bills and coins could still be introduced as scheduled on Jan. 1, 2002.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Waigel said the government isn't seeking a delay and expects the timetable to be met.