GERMANY: The German Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schröder, has said there "can not and will not be any going back" over his government's economic reforms, writes Derek Scally in Berlin
The Chancellor's assertion came in an open letter published in German newspapers yesterday alongside a photo showing him with a sympathetic, if determined, gleam in his eye.
It is precisely this gleam in his eye that has all of Berlin talking.
Just a few weeks ago, Mr Schröder was the "curmudgeon chancellor" who was pelted with eggs wherever he went. Now a new make-or-break political offensive has seen Mr Schröder get some of the best reviews of his political career and earn him another nickname, this time from Der Spiegel: "Gerhard the Steadfast".
Mr Schröder widened his offensive last Friday when he lectured Germans in Good Advice magazine that the welfare state is "going to ruin" because of a "mentality that you take advantage of social welfare where you can get it, even when there is sufficient income in the family".
Such advice, good or otherwise, would have caused uproar a year, or even two months ago. Instead it inspired the headline "Schröder reads voters the riot act" over an unusually friendly article in Welt am Sonntag newspaper at the weekend. The times, it would appear, have changed, as has Mr Schröder.
Still, his chirpiness contrasts with Germany's continuing economic slump and an unemployment rate that remains stubbornly stuck above 10 per cent.
The economic situation hasn't changed dramatically either since Mr Schröder introduced his reform programme in March 2003, though 76,000 people have left the SPD in disgust.
Opportunistic left-wingers have called for the austerity measures to be watered down or threaten to form their own splinter party, with the help of Mr Schröder's nemesis, the former finance minister, Mr Oskar Lafontaine.
The public mood continued its downward spiral with the revival two months ago of Monday demonstrations. Up to 70,000 people took to the streets each week to protest against the reforms, in particular plans to cut the level and duration of dole payments from next year and to means test benefits.
Mr Schröder stood firm and last week, as the protests began to lose steam, he went on the attack against "social welfare freeloaders". The reaction to the interview - ranging from grudging acceptance to high praise - confirmed that the wind was changing.
That change was confirmed in state election results last weekend. The extreme-right and left made large gains, but in Saxony it was the opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) who were the real losers, with a drop of nearly 16 per cent.
After an unbroken run of state election defeats in the last two years, the SPD still lost votes at the weekend, but not near the scale predicted.
On the other hand, the CDU finally has the proof that the two years it spent riding high in the opinion polls with an absolute majority was largely thanks to the government's unpopularity. Now poll analysts say the 2006 general election is once again an open race.
"Voters expected an alternative concept from the CDU about how they would create jobs and get the economy moving. Voters still don't know," said Mr Klaus-Peter Schöppner, chief analyst with the TNS-Emnid polling agency.
There is still a huge gap in support between the parties, with the CDU polling 42 per cent against the SPD's 27 per cent. The crucial test will be looming local and state elections in North-Rhine Westphalia, home to one in five Germans.
After six years in power, and almost as many changes of direction and demeanour, few can remember when Mr Schröder appeared in better form.
"The newspapers are writing that I am relaxed," Mr Schröder told SPD members last week. "I would call it certain."
Der Spiegel agreed this week, saying: "Mr Schröder has finally found his role: firmness.
"It could be the role of his life and it even looks as if he doesn't even have to play this role." "What could serve Mr Schröder well is the fact that he is acting against a wing of his own party for the good of the entire people," said Der Spiegel.
"At this point the person who acts rather than reacts can benefit the most. And Mr Schröder has no alterative really but to act."