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Germany's first woman chancellor sworn in
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CJ Cregg
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PostTue Nov 22, 2005 10:09 am    Germany's first woman chancellor sworn in

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Germany's first woman chancellor sworn in

Angela Merkel was voted in as the German Chancellor today, ending months of government paralysis after the inconclusive elections of September.

Frau Merkel became the country's first woman Chancellor when members of parliament voted 397 to 202, with 12 abstentions, to approve her leadership of an unwieldly "grand coalition" of three major parties: her own Christian Democrats, their long time rivals, the Social Democrats, and the Christian Social Union.

Gerhard Schroeder, the former Chancellor and leader of the Social Democrats, was the first to cross the floor of the Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament, and congratulate a smiling Frau Merkel after the vote was announced.

"Dear Frau Merkel, you are the first democratically elected female head of government in Germany," Norbert Lammert, the president of the parliament, said. "That is a strong signal for women and certainly for some men too. I wish you strength, God�s blessing and also some enjoyment in your high office."

Roger Boyes, correspondent for The Times in Berlin, said today's ceremonies were marked by "a combination of relief and exhaustion, a total lack of theatre".

"Germany hasn't had a government since May, so everyone is completely exhausted," he said. "There are some countries that can live quite happily without a government but Germany is not like that, it just can't cope, so there was a great feeling of relief."

Today's vote comes six months after Herr Schroeder called elections a year early and plunged Germany into a summer of political uncertainty, and more than two months after a confused election forced Germany�s biggest parties into an unlikely partnership.

The enormous alliance, which agreed a 190-page plan of government last week, will control 448 of 614 votes in the German parliament, but the differences within the coalition were latent in today's secret ballot, with at least 51 supposed supporters of Frau Merkel voting against her.

The negotiations that forged the coalition also stripped away a number of Frau Merkel's campaign pledges. The new Chancellor has had to give up plans to limit union powers in regional wage negotiations and to accept an income tax increase for those earning more than �250,000 a year, from 42 to 45 per cent.

The Social Democrats, which finished a close second in September's elections, have also secured half of the 16 seats in Frau Merkel�s first Cabinet, including the high-profile finance and foreign affairs portfolios.

But Frau Merkel, who will formally take the keys to the Chancellery later this afternoon, is expected to lead a substantial change in the tone of German government. A pastor's daughter who grew up in communist East Germany, she has set out a pragmatic, conservative alternative to the flamboyant leadership of Herr Schroeder.

Germany is expected to become more conciliatory towards the Bush Administration and more cautious towards President Putin of Russia at the same time as aligning itself with "New Europe" - a continent more open to transatlantic influence and liberal economics.

The change will begin straight after today's ceremonies. Tomorrow, Frau Merkel, 51, will embark on a lightning tour of European capitals, including London, as the new German leader.

In Paris and Brussels tomorrow, London on Thursday and then Warsaw, Frau Merkel will seek persuade her hosts that she can invigorate Europe's largest economy, currently hamstrung by public borrowing and overregulation, and enact an active foreign policy.

"We have to get our skates on," an adviser to Frau Merkel said yesterday. "Germany needs to be heard again."



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Republican_Man
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PostTue Nov 22, 2005 5:29 pm    

Good for her. I hope she's much more friendly to the US than the past administration...


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Dirt
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PostWed Nov 23, 2005 8:17 am    

That minister in a wheelchair was one thing, but now a woman el presidenta crazy eastern neighbours of mine

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