Germany's opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) attempted to escape from the shadow of scandal surrounding their former leader, Dr Helmut Kohl, as they met for a strategy meeting near Hamburg yesterday.
Before the meeting, Dr Kohl's successor as leader of the Christian Democrats, Dr Wolfgang Schauble, delivered his sharpest criticism of the former chancellor to date, calling on him to name secret donors to party funds.
"The Kohl era ended when he lost the election in 1998 and quit as party chairman. Obviously we cannot take responsibility for things that happened before that we did not know about," Dr Schauble said.
The former chancellor, who is under criminal investigation following his admission that he took up to £1 million in anonymous donations for his party, did not attend the strategy meeting. And the party's leading lights left little doubt that they are anxious to distance themselves from their former patriarch as swiftly as possible.
In a humiliating snub to Dr Kohl, CDU activists in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein have told him to stay away during the campaign leading to next month's state election. The party's chances of defeating the governing coalition of Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens in the state have diminished as the scandal over party funding has damaged the standing of the CDU.
As the CDU attempted to focus on mainstream political issues such as tax and education, the party's growing anger over Dr Kohl's refusal to name names became manifest.
"There is no alternative to explaining as fully as possible breaches of the party funding law that Helmut Kohl has himself admitted and taking the appropriate consequences," Dr Schauble said.
"No matter how bitter that path is, it is and remains, the only option."
Dr Schauble offered strong support to his party's general secretary, Dr Angela Merkel, who has come under fire from Dr Kohl's supporters for her open criticism of the former chancellor.
