The Seven-Year Switch

Gabriele Pauli, Bavaria's chic, red-haired motorcyclist who helped bring down the state's Christian Social Union premier Edmund Stoiber, is laying out her platform to gain control of the very conservative party. In the process, she is causing great controversy by suggesting that marriage should last just seven years.

While launching her campaign manifesto, she accused the CSU, which promotes traditional family values, of promoting unrealistic ideals of marriage.

"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 the seven-year mark, options for dissolution or renewal should be available to couples, she noted.

Pauli, 50, with two marriages under her belt, is set to cause some ripples in the male-dominated and mainly Catholic party which has dominated Bavarian politics since World War II.

"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.

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

How would the seven year marriage idea work out practically? What kind of emotional strain would it place on a marriage relationship? And is anyone thinking about how this would affect children?

Imagine two friends having lunch. Both have been married for six and a half years. The conversation might go something like this:

"So, your seven year anniversery is just around the corner. Have you decided yet whether you're going to renew?"

"I just can't decide! My wife wants to renew, but I just don't know. She's put on a few pounds, you know. And she can be a nag, sometimes. And you know Julie at the office? Man, she is hot! And we've been in some meetings together, and I think she has her eye on me."

"Can't decide whether to stick with the model you have or trade in, huh?"

"Yeah. I know I'd miss the kids if I decided not to renew, but at the same time, it would be nice to get a good night's sleep for a change."

What a nightmare.