"Mac" brings Scottish flavor to German politics

By Dave Graham

BERLIN (Reuters) - Might Germany one day be ruled by a man nicknamed "Mac" who got married in a kilt and whose Scottish father first arrived in the country to fight the Nazis?

David McAllister has been likened to a young Helmut Kohl and is currently the only member of Chancellor Angela Merkel''s Christian Democrats (CDU) below the age of 40 to lead her party in one of Germany''s 16 states.

McAllister, born to a Scottish soldier and a German mother, is one of a growing number of lawmakers of foreign extraction whose success is giving Germany''s politics a face more reflective of its increasingly multi-cultural landscape.

"My Scottish origin has never been of any disadvantage to me," the Berlin-born McAllister, 38, told Reuters. "Perhaps it''s even been an advantage because you''ve quite an exotic name for German politics."

It seems so far to have helped the trained lawyer.

When the CDU in the large western state of Lower Saxony voted to endorse McAllister as party leader last year, they did so by a record margin -- even though his predecessor, incumbent state premier Christian Wulff, has often topped polls of Germany''s most popular politicians.

Before the Berlin Wall fell 20 years ago, such a rapid ascent within the country''s main conservative party would have been unthinkable for the likes of McAllister, said Dietmar Herz, a political scientist from the University of Erfurt.

"Society needed to change first -- and it has. It''s a new phenomenon. And it''ll increasingly be the case in coming years. There''s much more acceptance of diversity here now," he said.

More than 18 percent of the population, or some 15.1 million people are classified as of migrant origin, which means people who moved to Germany since 1950 and their offspring. The number is rising, but is not yet reflected in political representation.

Of the 612 members of the Bundestag lower house of parliament, only a handful belong to this category. They include five of Turkish origin, two of Iranian extraction, and two half-Indian. Another was raised in Croatia and one left Poland in the 1950s.

With Germany''s population aging fast and its birth rate one of the lowest in the world, many argue that bringing in more immigrants is an economic necessity although studies have shown that Turks, the biggest ethnic minority, have struggled to integrate. This suggests the future may hold challenges.

"A few years ago, nobody in the CDU would have brought up immigration," said Herz. "Now they''re saying it has to take place. However, society is still a step or two behind."

CHANGING TIMES

Outside the Bundestag, however, change is more apparent.

European Parliament deputy Cem Ozdemir, 43, became the first politician of Turkish origin to head a major party in Germany when he was named last year to lead the Greens.  Continued...