[Nicholas Conradin]

?Mr. Kirchhof was a Justice (judge in Germanys highest court). He´s not used to personal attacks, and he isn´t really a politican. Mr. Kirchhof isn´t even member of a party

The article does mention that he was a constitutional judge. So if he's not a member of the CDU, how does he become Merkel's shadow finance minister?

I endorse the principle of a flat-rate tax, if properly implemented. At any rate, I hope that Merkel wins.

[Michael81Dus]

First of all, the flat tax is not supported by the CDU, we will think about it, but it´s not in our government program. We´re gonna lowering the income tax from currently 15-42% to 12-39% (depending on the income).

Then, Germanys highest court is the Federal Constitutional Court, the Justices interprete the constitution.

It´s not that wide-spread to appoint "neutral" people to Ministers, but just like Bush has a Democrat in his government, Chancellors here sometimes choose non-party members.

Nevertheless, it´s no secret that Kirchhof is a supporter of my party.