the industry structure.Because of Telekoms merger with Deutsche Post and its
ownership of existing buildings and land it was only minimally affected by the
problems of ownership to private companies and administrative procedures.
The primary objective of all development was to improve the
telecommunications infrastructure as soon as possible. Telecommunications was
seen as playing a leading role in the process of economic recovery and its
significance for the growing together of East and West. There was not enough
time for additional basic experimentation, either on the political or on the
technological level.
Another important political objective behind the process of unification,
was the intention of creating a uniform standard of living in the East and West.
The importance of this objective and of its implications within the political
process has an enormous influence on overall economic developments in Eastern
Germany and the telecommunication sector. In view of the huge excess demand for
telephone connections and telecommunication services, there were economic
arguments in favor of a sharp increase in tariffs above those in the West.
However, such a policy could never have been implemented at the political level.
Telephone tariffs in the East were brought in line with those in the West as
soon as was technically possible, regardless of the different conditions in
Eastern and Western Germany. Uniform charges were considered politically to be
more important than an economically efficient distribution of the short supply
of telephone connections. Like in many other economic sectors, goals of economic
efficiency have lost out to of just distribution when fixing telephone tarriffs
in the new states in the East.
As a public service, the West German telecommunications system is run by
the federal counties. The legal basis of this state monopoly is found in Article
87 of West German basic law, which states that the West German PTT has to be
conducted by a direct federal administration with its lower level of
administrative offices. The right of legislation on postal and telecommunication
matters falls exclusively on the federal county, according to Article 73 of the
basic law.
The federal minister for postal and telecommunication services is the
head of the West German PTT. According to Article 65 of West German basic law
the federal minister for postal and telecommunication services, shall conduct
the affairs of the West German PTT autonomously and on his own responsibility.
Telecommunication policy formation as well as the management of administration
is the responsability of the federal minister for postal and telecommunication
services,. However, his power is is restricted and controlled by the Postal
Administration Council (Para 1, Art 1 of the postal administration law). The
members include the West German Bundestag, the West German Bundesrat and
representatives of the different areas of the economy as well as seven members
of the West German PTT trade union, the Deutsche Postgewerkschaft (DPG), and
experts from the fields of broadcasting and finance (Para 5, Art 2). All 24
members of the Postal Administration Council are appointed by their national
councils or by the minister for postal and telecommunication services (expert
from the field of broadcasting) and the minister for finance (expert from the
field of finance). According to Para 12 of the postal administration law, the
council decides on the budget of the West German PTT. Further executive rights
extend to conditions on the use of postal and telecomunication systems,
including pricing (ara 12, Art 4), decisions on the field of activities (Para 12,
Art 5), as well as changes in the technical telecommunication infrastructure
(Para 12, Art 6). As an important control body, the Postal Administration
Council has to approve all regulations proposed by the federal minister for
postal and telecommunication services.However, the minister for postal and
telecommunication services has the power to annul decisions of the postal
administration council (Para 13, Art 1,2).
Despite this kind of veto right, the federal government as well as the
Bundestag have no direct control over the West German policies of
telecommunication. Yet the West German PTT is obliged to respect the principles
of the politics of West Germany, according to Para 2, Art 1 of the postal
administration law. However, the principles defined by the federal government
are so vague that they cannot properly act as a stern basis for engaging in
telecommunication policies. The influence of the Bundestag is even weaker since
the budget of the West German PTT forms a special fund (Para 3, Art 1 of the
postal administration law), over which the West German PTT exercises its own
budgetary rights. The influence of parliament is only by the participation of
members of parliament in the postal administration council as well as in
political positions in the federal postal and telecommunication administration.
The result is that West German telecommunication policy is designed and
implemented around the postal administration council and the postal
administration. In spite of occasional accusations of opportunism aimed at the
postal administration council, it’s believable that the post administration has
adjusted itself to the potential compromises in the council. This can be backed
up by the strong clashes in the council, and by that overruling the postal
administration council too often would likely lead to harmful campaigns against
the council.
The development of the telecommunication infrastructure within this
political and institutional framework became more and more criticized in the
1970s. Finally it caused the demand for reform within the institutional and
political framework. The origins of the criticism came from the rapid
technological developments of the 1960s and 1970s. Spectacular developments in
the realms of microelectronics and transmission technology as well as the
continuing digitalization made merging telecommunication and data-processing
possible. This resulted in new quantitative and qualitative demands on the
telecommunication infrastructure.
According to critics, the West German PTT, by not allowing competition,
had not been in a position to complete these demands. This criticism, mainly
forwarded by the Liberal Democratic Party, was mostly concerned with the
international competitiveness of West Germany. Further demands for the opening
of markets were created by those countries which have already deregulated their
telecommunication systems, for example the UK, USA, and Japan.
Germany has eight main political paries: Christian Democratic Union
(CDU), Christian Social Union (CSU), Free Democrat Party (FDP), Social Democrat
Party (SDP), The Greens, The Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), The
Republicans, and the Deutsche Volksunion.
Christian Democratic Union
The CDU, combining Catholics abd Protestants, has been the most
important single party in the development of post-war Germany. Its foreign
policy was forged by Konrad Adenauer and is based on the Atlantic alliance.
Although it also accepted the opening to the east initiated in the late 1960s
and early 1970s by Willy Brandt and it is currently concerned with stability in
post-communist Eastern Europe. Its leader, Helmut Kohl, has been chancellor
since 1982 and still exercises a powerful personal control over the party. The
CDU’s domestic policy is based on the concept of the social market as developed
by Ludwig Erhard in the 1950s.
Christian Social Union
The CSU is a sister party of the CDU. It is Catholic and operates only
in Bavaria where it is not challenged by the CDU. Under the leadership of the
late Franz Josef Strauss, it was more openly assertive in the pursuance of
German interests than the CDU. Its present leader is the finance minister, Theo
Waigel. Howevere, Edmund Stoiber, the prime minister of Bavaria, as a more
aggressive politician in the tradition of Franz Josef Strauss, is equally
important.
Free Democrat Party
The free democrats are basically a liberal party in the European rather
than the American sense; they believe in limiting government interference in all
walks of life, including both questions like divorce and abortion, and the
economy. On the latter they are generally to the right of the CDU. However, the
FDP’s most dominant personality in the second half of the 1970s, and until his
resignation in 1992, was Hans-Dietrich Genscher, who made his name as foreign
minister. The present leader, Klaus Kinkel, is also foreign minister.
Social Democrat Party
Once Marxist (though always democratic), the Social Democrats
established a programme of pragmatic reform known as the Bad Godesberg program
at the end of the 1950s. This paved the way for Helmut Schmidt, two of Germany’s
most influential post-war politicians. The difference between their economic
philosophy and the Christian Democrats’ social market is not fundamental. At
present, however, the SPD believes the CDU has failed to face up to the need to
pay for unification, and advocates higher taxes, especially on the better off.
The SPD’s foreign policy has always emphasized openings to the east, but not at
the expense of the Atlantic alliance or the EU. There is a strong pacifist
element which currently opposes any German military activity outside Germany,
including participation in UN peacekeeping operations; however, it should be
said that there are pacifists in all major parties.
The Greens
The Greens had a major influence on German policies of all major parties
during the 1980s, having surmounted the 5% threshold needed to be represented in
parliament in the 1983 elections. However, in December 1990 they just failed to
meet this threshold in western Germany, partly because of an internal division
between realists and purists. They are represented in the Bundestag because in
eastern Germany, where a seperate threshold was provided, they won more than 5%
in alliance with Bundnis 90, a group of protest parties from the former East
Germany. They also participate in governing coalitions in some state parliaments.
The Party of Democratic Socialism
This is the former SED or ruling party of East Germany. Under a moderate
leader, Gregor Gysi, who was never closely associated with the Honecker regime,
it has attracted the support of some of those who have lost their jobs or homes
as a result of unification.
The Republicans and Deutsche Volksunion
The Republicans and Deutsche Volksunion represent nationalist forces on
the far right of German politics. They have played on the immigration issue.