Merkel's party debates direction, congress starts

BERLIN, Nov 26 (Reuters) A potentially divisive debate over the direction of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) threatens to overshadow a party congress which starts today.

Over the weekend, powerful CDU state premiers, some widely viewed as likely successors to Merkel, held what amounted to a public debate about how reformist the party should be in newspaper interviews.

One year after a surprisingly narrow election win which forced her into a coalition with her Social Democrat rivals, Merkel is struggling to stamp her authority on her party and give it a clear direction.

''The party is undeniably unsettled,'' Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told Sunday's Spiegel magazine as congress delegates started to gather in the eastern city of Dresden.

Polls show support for the CDU has slipped to six-year lows and analysts say the CDU poses a bigger challenge to Merkel than dealing with her Social Democrat coalition partners.

Juergen Ruettgers, the influential premier of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, stoked the debate earlier this month with a proposal, to be voted on at the congress, to give more generous jobless benefits to the elderly unemployed.

His idea has met opposition from some in the party, including Baden-Wuerttemberg state premier Guenther Oettinger, who warned the party against veering left.

''The CDU will be successful as a centrist party if it sticks to its guns,'' Oettinger told Welt am Sonntag. ''There is no reason to shift our programme to the left.'' Those on the right are worried by deals Merkel has made with the Social Democrats, such as a widely criticised health reform.

Others back Ruettgers and say the CDU must soften its image.

They blame Merkel's election platform of radical reforms for the party' disappointing performance.

''The CDU must protect the interests of normal people. Social justice is crucial,'' Horst Seehofer, deputy head of the CDU's Bavarian sister party, told Bild am Sonntag.

Merkel, who has backed Ruettgers' motion on unemployment benefit, said on arrival in Dresden the congress would show the party was heading down a centrist path. ''I think all together the motions show the CDU is a party of the centre,'' she said.

Amid talk of new coalition partnerships after 2009's election, some analysts say Merkel should be more aggressive in asserting her authority, but she says that is not her style.

''I don't rate show-off politics. What is decisive is that we pursue our goals,'' she told Monday's Saechsische Zeitung.

However, no-one expects much direct criticism of Merkel who holds her main speech tomorrow and is set to be re-elected as party chairman. Preliminary party meetings took place today.

REUTERS KR MIR RAI2251