Innsbruck, [Beginning of October], 1969
Election to the Bundestag 1969
The big surprise of the election to the Bundestag of September 28, 1969, came at the end when the front runner of the SPD (Social Democratic Party), Willy Brandt, declared shortly before midnight in a television interview that he will assume the office of Federal Chancellor and that he had already invited the FDP (Free Democrats) to enter into coalition negotiations. That was for the moment implausible because the Unionsparteien (Union of the conservative Christian Democrats) had already celebrated victory and seen their candidate Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger confirmed in office. Only in the following days, the victory of Willy Brandt turned out to be irrefutable. The SPD made to the Free Democrats, although they had suffered considerable losses in the election, far-reaching concessions in forming the government.
With the new Brandt Government, a change in German foreign policy is to be expected. The German Ostpolitik should get moving, whereby vital questions of Germany will be addressed that are also significant for securing peace in Central Europe. The acceptance of the Oder-Neisse-Linie as border to Poland is at stake as well as the possible recognition of the DDR (German Democratic Republic - East Germany) as second German state.
The Results of the Election of September 28, 1969
Of the total 38,658,363 eligible votes, 32,733,431 ballots were cast in a high voter turnout. Of these - comparable results of the election of 1965 in parentheses - 46.1 % (47.6%) went to the CDU/CSU with 242 (245) seats in the Bundestag; 42% (39.3%) to the SPD with 224 (202) seats in the Bundestag; and 5.8% (9.5%) with 30 (49) seats to the FDP. The increase of votes for the SPD, together with the gain of seats in the Bundestag, made it possible for Willy Brandt to enter into a Small Coalition with the FDP and to form the government.
While a socialist liberal trend is gaining more and more ground in Europe, liberalism in the United States, after 30 year predominance, is being replaced by a conservative administration.
[Willy Brandt (1913-92), journalist and politician, lived from 1933-45 in exile in Norway and Sweden. He was mayor of Berlin, 1957-66; vice chancellor and foreign minister in the cabinet of Kiesinger, 1966-69; federal chancellor, 1969-74. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971. Willy Brandt died on October 8, 1992 at the age of 79.]
Innsbruck, October 25, 1969
Revaluation of the DM
Although the revaluation of the German mark (DM) by 8.5% was a necessary and understandable measure, it brought again a factor of uncertainty into the European monetary system. To what extent will the other European currencies be forced to go along? How much of a price increase will it cause in Austria, which remains dependent on imports from the Federal Republic? It is deplorable that monetary policies in Europe are still enacted unilaterally without prior mutual consultations. Efforts for the European integration are thereby restrained. Actually, a trend of declining cooperation in essential questions of economic and political unity can be observed.