The Old Man Steps Aside

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The Successors. Since the party's unwritten rule requires that the two top offices may not be held by men of the same faith, Catholic Konrad Adenauer's successor will presumably be a Protestant. The three leading candidates: Vice Chancellor Erhard, 62; Gerstenmaier, 52; and Finance Minister Franz Etzel, 56. Of the three, Etzel, a colorless Ruhr corporation lawyer would be most apt to follow Adenauer's tutelage in foreign affairs unquestioningly. Because Gerstenmaier is ready to trade away Germany's NATO membership if it will buy reunification from the Russians, he is less likely to get the nomination. Erhard has never concealed that in his free-trader's eyes, the Adenauer-sponsored six-nation Common Market is too limited, and last week he told an audience of Ruhr industrialists that more "open-mindedness and flexibility" would be useful in conducting foreign policy. The test of Adenauer's present power may well be whether he is obliged to accept Erhard as Chancellor. At the moment, Erhard is the clear favorite.