BERLIN, Rabi'II 27, 1434, Mar 9, 2013, SPA -- Germany's vice chancellor tried Saturday to rally his struggling pro-market party as it gears up for September elections, portraying it as the only political force that will prevent tax hikes and a staunch defender of Berlin's tough approach to the European debt crisis, AP reported. Philipp Roesler's Free Democratic Party also sought to put recent infighting over his future behind it, giving the 40-year-old another two-year term as leader. Poll ratings for the FDP, the junior partner in conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government, are below the 5 percent needed to win parliamentary seats - a complicating factor as Merkel seeks a third term. The FDP entered Merkel's government after winning nearly 15 percent of the vote in Germany's 2009 election with a campaign that focused on big tax cuts. However, it failed to achieve them and received much of the blame for frequent coalition squabbling. At a party convention on Saturday, Roesler, who is also Germany's economy minister, asserted that the center-left opposition plans "an orgy of tax increases" and his party is the only bulwark against that. Merkel's party "has long since toppled over in the fight against extra burdens, but doesn't dare tell people that," he said. -- SPA 20:48 LOCAL TIME 17:48 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/1085870