Guido Westerwelle, the German foreign minister, denied Monday there had been any challenge to his leadership of the Free Democratic Party (FDP), junior partner in the German ruling coalition, according to dpa. He spoke in Berlin after two days of closet talks with 60 senior FDP aides on a sharp slump in the popularity of the pro-business party. Current surveys suggest only 5 per cent of voters back the liberal FDP party, a far cry from the 15 per cent of ballots it won nationally in Germany's 2009 election. Asked by reporters if anyone had suggested he should shed one of his two roles, as minister or party leader, he said, "It was not raised by a single executive member, nor in one single speech, nor one single time." Westerwelle, 48, did say that two other leadership figures would be taking a bigger public role in future: party general secretary Christian Lindner and the party's caucus leader in parliament, Birgit Homburger. The group, which won votes last year with a tax-cutting message, said it would also carry out a broad review of its policies. Westerwelle did not say if the party would alter its tax-cutting mantra, but did say there would be no censorship of new ideas. The party would be "more flexible" and "more pragmatic" in future, he said. "We Free Democrats are going to make a fresh start," he said. "But we will stick with our issues and with our approach." Lindner, 31, was appointed to draw up a new policy statement. The FDP's running disputes with Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats have raised fears that the coalition may fall apart before its elected term expires in 2013. "We have been deeply at odds too often. What has to change is the style of debate," Westerwelle conceded. "We must win back trust." He also conceded the Merkel government got off to a bad start, lacking speed and vigour in making decisions. "That is true of everyone, me included," he said. Westerwelle has received a bad press since joining the government, with some critics saying he had been more effective as a gadfly opposition voice than he has as a builder of compromises in cabinet.
