Glamorous politician wants law to allow 7-year itch

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WORLD / Europe

Glamorous politician wants law to allow 7-year itch

(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-09-24 10:26

Berlin - Bavaria's most glamorous politician -- a flame-haired
motorcyclist who helped bring down state premier Edmund Stoiber -- has
shocked the Catholic state in Germany by suggesting marriage should last
just 7 years.

Bavaria's conservative Christian Socialist (CSU) rebel Gabriele Pauli
answers reporter questions during a news conference in Munich September
19, 2007. [Reuters]

Gabriele Pauli, who poses on her website in motorcycle leathers, is
standing for the leadership of Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU) --
sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian
Democrats (CDU) -- in a vote next week.

She told reporters at the launch of her campaign manifesto on Wednesday
she wanted marriage to expire after seven years and accused the CSU,
which promotes traditional family values, of nurturing ideals of marriage
which are wide of the mark.

"The basic approach is wrong ... many marriages last just because people
believe they are safe," she told reporters. "My suggestion is that
marriages expire after seven years."

After that time, couples should either agree to extend their marriage or
it should be automatically dissolved, she said.

Fifty-year-old Pauli, twice divorced, is a maverick intent on shaking up
her male-dominated and mainly Catholic party which has dominated Bavarian
politics since World War Two.

"This is about bringing ideas into the CSU and starting a discussion,"
she told German television on Thursday after she had unleashed a wave of
criticism from other politicians.

Former foe Stoiber said she did not belong in the CSU and European
lawmaker Ingo Freidrich dismissed her views.

"She is diametrically contradicting our Christian, ethical values,"
Freidrich said.

Peter Ramsauer, head of the CSU in Germany's parliament, compared Pauli's
ideas to "the dirt under your fingernails".

Pauli, who attracted attention earlier this year when she posed for a
magazine wearing long black latex gloves, was at the centre of a snooping
scandal which eventually led to Stoiber, Bavarian premier for 14 years,
saying he would stand down early.

She said his office tried to obtain details about lovers and alcohol
consumption to use against her.

The CSU will elect Stoiber's successor as party head at a conference next
week. He will be replaced as state premier in early October.

Viewed as a party rebel, Pauli stands almost no chance of winning next
week's vote. The contest has been fought mainly between Bavarian state
economy minister Erwin Huber and German Consumer Minister Horst Seehofer.

The popularity of Seehofer, a 58-year-old married father of three, has
suffered from the disclosure that he had been having an affair with a
younger woman who recently had his baby.

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