quartermaster
September 27th, 2009, 08:40 PM
By Bertrand Benoit in Berlin
Published: September 27 2009 17:30 | Last updated: September 28 2009 00:16
Germany was on course on Sunday night for its first centre-right government in 11 years after voters gave chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and her Free Democratic allies a majority in parliament.
Victory of the conservative-liberal alliance – which had campaigned for tax cuts and a return to nuclear energy but also social justice and tougher rules for finance – ends four years of awkward co-operation between the CDU and its rival Social Democratic Party in a grand coalition.
“We achieved something fantastic,” said Ms Merkel, now facing a second four-year term. “We achieved a stable majority in Germany for a new government . . . We can party tonight but there is a lot of work waiting for us. Let us not forget that we have a lot of problems to solve.”
The change of government could herald a more confrontational phase in German politics as a stronger left-of-centre opposition links up with reinvigorated trade unions against the centre-right coalition.
The CDU and FDP were expected to win 332 seats in the 623-strong Bundestag, or lower house, giving the alliance a 20-seat majority.
The results were a slap in the face for the country’s two largest parties. The CDU obtained its lowest score since the first postwar election of 1949 while the SPD lost 11.3 points to reach a postwar low.
In spite of rampant anti-business sentiment after last year’s financial crisis, the free-market FDP, which like the Greens and the Left recorded its best result ever, was the clear victor of the ballot.
The vote will draw cheers from business, with a centre-right government coming to power for the first time since Helmut Kohl, CDU chancellor, lost out to Gerhard Schröder, his SPD successor, in 1998.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the SPD candidate for chancellor, said: “The voters have decided and the result is a bitter day for Germany’s Social Democracy. In opposition, we will keep a very close eye on the new [government] . . . We must prevent a return to the 1990s.”
Mr Steinmeier said he would become SPD parliamentary leader. Yet the debacle could signal a change of leadership at Germany’s oldest party as Franz Müntefering, chairman, comes under pressure to go on Monday.
[chart found at original link]
The CDU and FDP will now start talks over the make-up of the cabinet and prepare their policy road map. The FDP’s good performance may give it more than the three ministries usually reserved for the junior coalition partner. Guido Westerwelle, FDP leader, is billed to become foreign minister.
Dominating the talks will be the tax cuts on which both have campaigned.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2b61abaa-ab82-11de-9be4-00144feabdc0.html
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
It will certainly be interesting to see how Germany's new center-right government reacts to the socialist/capitalist paradigm in Germany, as well as the changing landscape of an increased insurgency in Afghanistan. In any case, it would appear that Germany has rejected the populist message of the Socialist Party; now, we will wait and see how a center-right German government will respond to the growing crisis in Germany and abroad.
Published: September 27 2009 17:30 | Last updated: September 28 2009 00:16
Germany was on course on Sunday night for its first centre-right government in 11 years after voters gave chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and her Free Democratic allies a majority in parliament.
Victory of the conservative-liberal alliance – which had campaigned for tax cuts and a return to nuclear energy but also social justice and tougher rules for finance – ends four years of awkward co-operation between the CDU and its rival Social Democratic Party in a grand coalition.
“We achieved something fantastic,” said Ms Merkel, now facing a second four-year term. “We achieved a stable majority in Germany for a new government . . . We can party tonight but there is a lot of work waiting for us. Let us not forget that we have a lot of problems to solve.”
The change of government could herald a more confrontational phase in German politics as a stronger left-of-centre opposition links up with reinvigorated trade unions against the centre-right coalition.
The CDU and FDP were expected to win 332 seats in the 623-strong Bundestag, or lower house, giving the alliance a 20-seat majority.
The results were a slap in the face for the country’s two largest parties. The CDU obtained its lowest score since the first postwar election of 1949 while the SPD lost 11.3 points to reach a postwar low.
In spite of rampant anti-business sentiment after last year’s financial crisis, the free-market FDP, which like the Greens and the Left recorded its best result ever, was the clear victor of the ballot.
The vote will draw cheers from business, with a centre-right government coming to power for the first time since Helmut Kohl, CDU chancellor, lost out to Gerhard Schröder, his SPD successor, in 1998.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the SPD candidate for chancellor, said: “The voters have decided and the result is a bitter day for Germany’s Social Democracy. In opposition, we will keep a very close eye on the new [government] . . . We must prevent a return to the 1990s.”
Mr Steinmeier said he would become SPD parliamentary leader. Yet the debacle could signal a change of leadership at Germany’s oldest party as Franz Müntefering, chairman, comes under pressure to go on Monday.
[chart found at original link]
The CDU and FDP will now start talks over the make-up of the cabinet and prepare their policy road map. The FDP’s good performance may give it more than the three ministries usually reserved for the junior coalition partner. Guido Westerwelle, FDP leader, is billed to become foreign minister.
Dominating the talks will be the tax cuts on which both have campaigned.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2b61abaa-ab82-11de-9be4-00144feabdc0.html
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
It will certainly be interesting to see how Germany's new center-right government reacts to the socialist/capitalist paradigm in Germany, as well as the changing landscape of an increased insurgency in Afghanistan. In any case, it would appear that Germany has rejected the populist message of the Socialist Party; now, we will wait and see how a center-right German government will respond to the growing crisis in Germany and abroad.