ABSTRACT
The 1980 federal election decided a number of matters of considerable importance, at both the purely political and the institutional level. Comparing West Germanys current political habits favourably with those of Britain, a recent letter-writer to the press asserted: There is a basic thing which is wrong with our so-called democracy. The events in Poland during the summer of 1980 further narrowed the scope of the governments Eastern policies and led to the cancellation of summit meetings with Edward Gierek and Erich Honecker. Little was said about the future of the EEC and in particular the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, although politicians of all parties were aware that they would have to make up their minds on this some time in 1981. The post-1945 foundation of the CDU and the ecumenical movement of the 1960s had gone a long way towards healing the Protestant-Catholic split.
