Posted on 08/17/2005 2:54:17 AM PDT by wolf78
Merkel presents election team
BERLIN, Germany (AP) -- Conservative leader Angela Merkel was offering a taste Wednesday of her future government team if her party wins Germany's election, presenting a group of advisers expected to include a law-and-order hard-liner and a radical tax reformer.
Merkel's "competence team" falls short of a shadow Cabinet, given that key posts -- traditionally including that of foreign minister -- would likely go to a coalition partner if her Christian Democrats dislodge Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's government in the September 18 election.
However, the presentation allows the challenger to look ahead after trying to repair damage from remarks by a senior colleague that disparaged voters in the former East Germany.
German media reported that Merkel would name Guenther Beckstein -- Bavaria's state interior minister -- to cover the domestic affairs portfolio. Beckstein has cultivated a hardline image and has been a leading advocate of deporting suspected Islamic extremists.
The key economy and labor brief is expected to go to Peter Mueller, the conservative governor of the western state of Saarland -- long a stronghold of Schroeder's Social Democrats. Merkel has sought to focus her attack on Germany's 11.5 percent jobless rate.
To cover finance, Merkel reportedly has chosen a former supreme court justice, Paul Kirchhof. Kirchhof has in the past advocated radically simplifying tax rules and slashing the top tax rate.
Covering foreign affairs would be Wolfgang Schaeuble, Merkel's deputy who traveled to Washington last month to pledge warmer German-U.S. ties.
[...]
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Go Angela! A new Iron Lady.
Even if they don't win, it's amazing that a group like this got this far in Germany.
Ditto. If Merkel has the political will to become a Thatcher, she can restore Germany to its place as the economic powerhouse of Europe. The Schroeder-Fischer regime has brought nothing but posturing and decline.
"A group like this"?? This is the CDU, which has been the main political party since the war, in power from 1949 to 1969 and from 1982 to 1997. There's nothing amazing about their coming back into power at all. The party will almost certainly win, but don't expect anything too radically different from the current government in the foreign policy sphere: Angela has already ruled out for Germany a military option in Iran.
The changes will be even less marked if the election results only permit a "Grand Coalition" with the SPD (Socialists). This happened in 1966-69.
Just FYI.
"A group like this"?? This is the CDU, which has been the main political party since the war, in power from 1949 to 1969 and from 1982 to 1997. There's nothing amazing about their coming back into power at all. The party will almost certainly win, but don't expect anything too radically different from the current government in the foreign policy sphere: Angela has already ruled out for Germany a military option in Iran.
The changes will be even less marked if the election results only permit a "Grand Coalition" with the SPD (Socialists). This happened in 1966-69.
Just FYI.
She's an eastern German protestant woman, in a party dominated by western German Catholic men. I reckon she's fairly moderate, but we might be surprised.
She's an eastern German protestant woman, in a party dominated by western German Catholic men. I reckon she's fairly moderate, but we might be surprised.
Oops, sorry for double-posting - twice! D'oh!
From left to right (top): Peter Müller (economy and labour), Paul Kirchhof (finances), Ursula von der Leyen (social issues, health system, families), Annette Schavan (education and research), continued (bottom): Gerda Hasselfeldt (farming and environment), Günther Beckstein (interior and national security), Norbert Lammert (culture) und Wolfgang Schäuble (foreign affairs and defense).
The CDU in general is a whole lot more liberal than this, I'm talking about Merkel and her allies specifically.
"The CDU in general is a whole lot more liberal than this, I'm talking about Merkel and her allies specifically."
Liberal as in "free market" or liberal as in "left wing"?
Anyway, sure, the CDU is somewhat more to the left than say the US republicans, especially in economic matter. But that doesn't mean that a party cannot be transformed. Blair did it with the UK labour party, so it will be interesting to see what Merkel and her allies can do with the CDU. Because, one thing is for sure: Compared to Kohl and Bluem (a former minister under and a friend of Kohl, who was even left of a large part of the SPD) Merkel is a free-market radical.
Gyahahaha!
Blair didn't 'transform' the Labour party, he has a few allies in key positions, and the rest of the party can't stand him.
Blair himself is only 'conservative' when it comes to terrorism. He's a b***h for the EU, and socially can't get much more liberal.
Angela Merkel (together with Peter Mueller)
"Blair didn't 'transform' the Labour party, he has a few allies in key positions, and the rest of the party can't stand him."
Well, I wouldn't mind if Merkel could pull the same kind of stunt off with the CDU. Because, frankly, I couldn't care less if Merkels party colleagues like her, it's the political decisions that are important.
"Blair himself is only 'conservative' when it comes to terrorism. He's a b***h for the EU, and socially can't get much more liberal."
I never insinuated that Blair was a conservative, when in fact he is not. I'm also fully aware that socially he's ultra-liberal (in the "left-wing" sense). However, if you compare today's "New Labour" with the predominantly Marxist labour party of the 60s and 70s, there is a noticeable difference. All I want to say is: Because a party held a certain stance 10 years ago doesn't mean that it will always have to do so for the future. Things simply change!
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