Angela Merkel Set to Lead Germany

mkpdavies · 10-10-2005, 11:26 PM

http://www.thetimesonline.com/articl.../d8d5dup80.txt

Quote:

BERLIN - Conservative Angela Merkel struck a power-sharing deal Monday that will make her the first woman and politician from the ex-communist east to serve as Germany's chancellor, forging a coalition with ousted leader Gerhard Schroeder's party to reform the faltering economy.

Quote:

Under the terms of the agreement, the Social Democrats would head the foreign, finance, labor, justice, health, transport, environment and development ministries.

Merkel's Christian Democrats and her sister party, Edmund Stoiber's Christian Social Union, would get the economy, defense, interior, agriculture, family and education portfolios. With Merkel as chancellor and her chief of staff also a Cabinet-level post, the two sides would have equal representation at the Cabinet table. The parties have the right to propose their ministers.

Germany is screwed. They will never agree on anything.

Independent UKIP · 11-10-2005, 12:01 AM

but it will probably lead to a big increase in support for the FDP (Toryish a bit) and the Link (leftists & former Communists ) who are both somewhat less pro-EU than new the new Government and the Greens.

Tom Wilde · 11-10-2005, 12:31 AM

I quite like the FDP, because of their support for personal freedom and their wish to cut bureaucracy. But I haven't seen any sign of them being anti-EU. Are you sure about that?

Die Linke contain the PDS, the party that gave Germany the Stasi and the Berlin Wall, though strangely I don't think they made much of those achievements in their election campaign.

SGK · 11-10-2005, 11:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mkpdavies

Germany is screwed. They will never agree on anything.

Spot on. Except being in the EU, of course. I was going to post this news but couldn't muster the motivation. At least the German people have the evidence in front of their nose that elections are a sham and their ruling elite are in it for their personal ambition.

Both sides said they wouldn't do this, but now have because they couldn't get their hands on power any other way. Merkel is a disaster waiting to happen. It really is a lose-lose situation.

The FDP are not anti-EU, although they are a quiet party and I haven't heard from them much recently. I was very surprised how quiet they were leading in to the election. And they are not Toryish either, they are essentially the liberals.

The FDP have gained a measure of respect these last weeks, however, because they held themselves back from the rush to power. They could have formed a three-way coallition with the labour-green government of the last two terms but stated that they couldn't honourably do so, though I suspect they would have gone for a conservative-green-liberal compromise.

The only real positive is it may derail the EU push to spark to life the drive to unification. Germany will be too involved with making this work / infighting. So the EU will either be without one of its major driving forces or, conversely, it could feel it 'needs' to push ahead to help the situation.

SGK · 01-11-2005, 01:10 PM

http://euobserver.com/?aid=20226&rk=1

The coallition is in trouble before it has even started.

mkpdavies · 01-11-2005, 01:20 PM

I don't see how Merkel has a chance of doing anything with the shamble of a situation she finds herself in.

She will get the blame for inaction, which is unfair, but such is life.

SGK · 01-11-2005, 01:26 PM

The big pointer here is Stoiber's reaction. He is her partner but is jumping ship. He's a slippery character (actually my first preference for Chancellor, though that's from the pick of the bunch which is not saying much).
He was previously very guarded about where he wanted to be after a presumed election victory, which suggested he had his suspicions about how it was going to go.
He seems to be hinting he will let the SS Coallition sail INTO phpbb_iceberg infested waters without him.

11-10-2005, 12:01 AM	#2 (permalink)
Independent UKIP Uber Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: London Posts: 2,300	True, Germany is probably screwed but it will probably lead to a big increase in support for the FDP (Toryish a bit) and the Link (leftists & former Communists ) who are both somewhat less pro-EU than new the new Government and the Greens.

01-11-2005, 01:20 PM	#6 (permalink)
mkpdavies Uber Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Woking Posts: 30,604	I don't see how Merkel has a chance of doing anything with the shamble of a situation she finds herself in. She will get the blame for inaction, which is unfair, but such is life. __________________ http://brits4ronpaul.blogspot.com/ http://wokinglibertarians.blogspot.com/ http://lpuk.org My ignore list Labour, Blue Labour, Lib Dems

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11-10-2005, 12:31 AM	#3 (permalink)
Tom Wilde Moderator Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: London. Posts: 2,771	I quite like the FDP, because of their support for personal freedom and their wish to cut bureaucracy. But I haven't seen any sign of them being anti-EU. Are you sure about that? Die Linke contain the PDS, the party that gave Germany the Stasi and the Berlin Wall, though strangely I don't think they made much of those achievements in their election campaign.

01-11-2005, 01:10 PM	#5 (permalink)
SGK Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 1,237	http://euobserver.com/?aid=20226&rk=1 The coallition is in trouble before it has even started.

01-11-2005, 01:26 PM	#7 (permalink)
SGK Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 1,237	The big pointer here is Stoiber's reaction. He is her partner but is jumping ship. He's a slippery character (actually my first preference for Chancellor, though that's from the pick of the bunch which is not saying much). He was previously very guarded about where he wanted to be after a presumed election victory, which suggested he had his suspicions about how it was going to go. He seems to be hinting he will let the SS Coallition sail INTO phpbb_iceberg infested waters without him.