Quotes of the Day

When Germany's Deputy Chancellor and Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle held a briefing for reporters in Berlin last month, he arrived exuding an aura of defiance and ebullience. It didn't last. Germany's Westerwelle had come to talk about the Bundestag's decision to send more troops to Afghanistan. Instead, he found himself bombarded with questions about a rumored rift with his boss, Chancellor Angela Merkel. "We have an absolutely untarnished relationship," Westerwelle insisted. "We text each other like there's no tomorrow."

Perhaps they should talk, instead. Five months after Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party began forming a new center-right government with Westerwelle's probusiness Free Democratic Party (FDP), the alliance that was billed as a marriage made in heaven is on the rocks. The government has been riven by infighting, bitter personal rivalries and squabbles over policy direction. The partisan bickering has grown so bad it threatens complete inertia. "The new government [has] had a catastrophic start," Gerd Langguth, author of a biography of Chancellor Merkel, tells TIME. "There's a cacophony of ideas and egos, and Angela Merkel still hasn't come up with a vision for her new government."

Merkel's main headache is Westerwelle, whose various job titles seem to have given him carte blanche to be the government's unofficial troublemaker. Finding himself holding the balance of power following 11 years in opposition, the ambitious politician is enjoying his first taste of power. Even though his main job is Foreign Minister, Westerwelle has flexed his muscles on domestic issues from tax reform to health care to nuclear power. Gero Neugebauer, a political scientist at the Free University in Berlin says Westerwelle's inexperience in government makes him a loose cannon. "Westerwelle's criticism gives the impression that Angela Merkel can't control her Cabinet," says Neugebauer. "Germans are asking who's in charge? Westerwelle looks like he's the cook and Merkel is the waiter."

One recent crunch came when Westerwelle launched a blistering attack on Germany's cherished welfare state, criticizing handouts for the long-term unemployed. Raising welfare benefits smacks of socialism, Westerwelle wrote in the daily Welt newspaper on Feb. 11. "Whoever promises the people effortless prosperity encourages late Roman decadence." The FDP leader went on to argue that those who work should always get more than the unemployed and that young jobless Germans should take up community work like shoveling snow.

Criticism of the welfare state touches a raw nerve among Germans. They have jealously guarded social benefits since they were introduced by Otto von Bismarck, the "Iron Chancellor," in the 1880s. Bismarck's system — designed to win over workers and increase productivity — guaranteed every citizen social insurance, including a pension, national health insurance and disability benefits. Westerwelle thinks that should change, and is also pushing for lower taxes and a new simplified tax system. The opposition Social Democrats branded him a "sociopolitical arsonist" while the Greens warned that the welfare state would be pared back to a "social ice age." Merkel was not amused, either. "I've made it clear that what Guido Westerwelle said is not my choice of words. That's not my style," she told the CDU party faithful.

Another row erupted over the future of nuclear power, long a controversial issue in Germany. One of Merkel's CDU allies, Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen, opened up a can of worms when he called for an end to the use of nuclear power by 2030. Merkel's spokesman said any talk of an exit strategy was "premature." But conservative governors from the south of the country, home to some of the nuclear power stations, were seething. Westerwelle chimed in with the opinion that abandoning nuclear energy would be a "serious mistake."

Then there's the minefield of health-care reform. Ministers are divided over how to reform Germany's complex health system and rein in spiraling medical costs. The upstart 36-year-old Health Minister Philipp Rösler (FDP) thinks he's come up with a solution to crack the problem: a flat-rate premium for health-care contributions so all Germans pay the same, regardless of income. But colleagues from the Christian Social Union (CSU), the CDU's sister party and the third partner in the coalition, have slammed the plan, saying it is not "socially fair and not financeable."

Merkel has mostly tried to steer clear of confrontation by adopting a presidential style of leadership. To stop the infighting over health care she appointed a government commission to look into the matter. But her approval ratings are slipping. A poll by the TNS Emnid Institute on Feb. 17 found 51% of Germans were satisfied with her work, down from 61% the month before. With the new government "arguing more than the old coalition government," says Manfred Güllner, head of the Forsa Polling Institute, "Angela Merkel has to be careful that she doesn't lose her voters and she has to tell her coalition partners to get back in line."

The government's bickering is set against the backdrop of the ongoing economic crisis, which remains the key issue for voters. Germany may be officially out of recession but Europe's biggest economy is struggling to get back on its feet. Unemployment is creeping up and public finances are deteriorating. Germany's budget deficit reached 3.3% of GDP in 2009 and is forecast to rise to more than 5% of GDP this year — far more than the 3% limit set by European Union rules. Add in worries that Berlin could end up bailing Greece out of its own financial predicament (so far Merkel's response to calls for help has been a firm nein, though she has proposed a new European Monetary Fund that could help in the future) and you can understand why Germans are disgruntled.

Merkel's spokesman, Ulrich Wilhelm, says voters are missing the big picture. "It certainly was not the best start," Wilhelm tells TIME. "It'll take time for the parties to come together." Despite the differences, it's crucial to "look at the facts." The government has passed "important legislation regarding tax incentives for businesses, agreeing on the 2010 budget and giving the green light for the biggest investment in research and technology."

As if to prove the show must go on, Merkel hosted another meeting of her coalition partners in Berlin late last month. Westerwelle called the talks "constructive," but just 24 hours later, repeated his controversial rant against the welfare state and said that he'd provoked a "necessary debate." In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Merkel accused Westerwelle of repeating the obvious. Of course those who work should get more than those who don't work, the Chancellor said. The message: I'm in charge.

Merkel is indeed in the stronger position. The FDP won a record 14.6% of the vote in last September's election, but it was never going to join up with the left-of-center Social Democratic party. That means there is no real alternative to the current coalition. But Merkel's lack of authority remains worrying. "Angela Merkel's strategy is to calm things down — her coping style is emotional and palliative," says Thomas Kliche, a political psychologist at the University of Hamburg. The problem is, "stagnation doesn't overcome crisis."

• Tristana Moore / Berlin
• The arrival of Germany's new coalition government was meant to boost Europe's biggest economy and push much-needed reform. Instead, its leaders keep squabbling