Throughout his 8'½ years as leader of the Christian Democrats in parliament, Ranier Barzel, 48, had to fend off steady criticism from both his Social Democratic Party foes and his colleagues within the alliance of the Christian Democratic Union and Bavaria's Christian Social Union. He has been assailed as an ambitious opportunist with an all too obvious thirst for power and condemned for his irritating, seemingly insincere political style. As one S.D.P. leader put it: "After every 5,000 words, he has to have his oil changed."
Nonetheless, the cool, intelligent Barzel managed to expand his power. He won election as...
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