When the chancellor's own party fell to an embarrassing defeat in May's state elections in North-Rhine Westphalia, Gerhard Schroeder announced that he could not carry on. Rather than resigning -- an idea he refused to even consider -- the chancellor said he wanted to call new elections, as a quasi-referendum on the coalition's package of unpopular reforms.

The only problem was that Germany set the bar high for dissolving parliament and requires not only that strict procedures are followed, but also that the federal president review the constitutionality of a confidence vote before giving his approval for early elections. The main reason Hitler was able to come to power in the 1930s was that the president could essentially dissolve parliament at will -- indeed, there were 13 different chancellors in the Weimar Republic. To avoid any repeats in history, the post-war German constitution sets very strict rules for dissolving a government.

But Schroeder wasn't the first modern German Chancellor to hold a confidence vote in a bid for new elections. Willy Brandt (1972), and Helmut Kohl (1982), both pushed for the same thing. And surely, having lost countless state elections, and facing opposition in parliament to his programs, wouldn't it just be better to put the chancellor out of his misery, and allow new elections anyway? President Horst Koehler, who is a member of Angela Merkel's conservative opposition Christian Democratic Union, seems to think so. He decided, regardless of the legal difficulties, that new elections were a political imperative.

The German papers mostly share a feeling of relief this morning that another hurdle has been cleared. There is, however, a note of caution. Elections must now take place within the next 60 days, in all likelihood on Sept. 18. But Germany's Federal Constitutional Court could still block the process altogether.

The conservative daily Die Welt is relieved that elections have been given the go-ahead by President Koehler. He didn't really have any other choice, the paper says. "He had to accept that politics had found its own solution." Not that it will be of any help to Chancellor Schroeder, the commentator scoffs. "This government now finds itself in a state of self-liquidation. The authority of the chancellor has been destroyed. A continuation of the governing coalition would have been like keeping a coma patient alive on an artificial respirator." At least the decision ends a period of uncertainty and mind games, suggests the paper; a period when real political issues could hide behind the debate over the constitution. Now it's time for the people to see the coalition in its true light, the commentator opines. "What has this government achieved, why is it now washed-up, and where does this leave the country?" Now we can recognize how Schroeder has left the country in a fine mess, the commentator rails on. The conservative opposition know the challenge that faces them, but they have not yet stepped up to the plate; and they cannot continue to dillydally. "They must demonstrate what exactly the fundamental difference in their politics and idea of society is ... The country must now recognize the alternative," concludes the commentator, pinning his colors firmly to the conservative mast.

"News [of the decision] comes not only as salvation for the political classes. Above all, it corresponds to the will of the overwhelming majority of our people, who even before Koehler's speech, could not have envisaged any other solution," business daily Handelsblatt, begins this morning. After all, Germany badly needs elections. "Never before in post-war history has a German government so obviously lost all political control and the ability to solve the country's problems, as Schroeder's cabinet has now." Its economic policies are exhausted, the reforms don't seem to be working, social policy is up the creek, and Schroeder is now perceived as a "lame duck" on the international stage. "The financial markets have only been climbing for the past few weeks because the financial world is hoping for a change of government," the commentator cheekily suggests. "Still, opinion polls are far from clear cut, as to whether Germans really want to vote for reform." It is apparent though, that the German people want change. The German constitutional court must now accept new elections. "Anything else would be a tragedy for Germany".

The tabloid Bild is also lets out a big sigh of relief in its stamp-sized editorial, which is easily digestible for the masses who read it. "A courageous decision," its headline proclaims -- giving the German President a well-earned pat on the back after weeks of tortured deliberation. Now it's decision time, "and Schroeder, Fischer, Merkel, Stoiber and Westerwelle now have a duty to tell the electorate the truth about their policies." Its now time for a battle of wills to begin -- a true competition of the best solutions to fix the problems which Germany faces. "Hopefully, a new government will begin to tackle these problems with new impetus, and with a workable majority," the paper says.

The conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung is less confident that everyone wanted new elections, than Bild might have you believe. Many people hoped the president would tell Schroeder, "Oh no you don't, chancellor!" Koehler really had little room for maneuver however, and had to take all political and constitutional considerations into account, the paper argues. Many experts had indicated that Koehler, as the head of state and in accordance with the letter of the constitution, had no choice but to forbid a dissolution of parliament. However, if the president had turned down the chancellor's request, "a crisis of confidence could have grown into a crisis of state." Even Schroeder's resignation would not have guaranteed an easy path to new elections. However, the speed at which Schroeder began electioneering following the dissolution of parliament, means he deserved at least a good dressing down by the president, the commentator suggests.

Berlin's Tagesspiegel shows a little more restraint, and wonders whether the German president might live to regret his decision. "He has taken on a considerable risk," commentator Hermann Rudolph argues. "If the Constitutional Court should uphold complaints (against his decision), it would be a blow to his presidency from which it would be very difficult to recover." However, Ruldoph goes on to suggest that irrespective of constitutional considerations, Koehler's decision does at least spare Germany an agonizing period of political intransigence. Even Schroeder acknowledged this much, in his final speech to the Bundestag. The president, above all, is pragmatic, "results orientated" and "prepared for reform." Now the matter is out of his hands. "Elections hand the political decision ... back to the people."