Home>News Center>World
         
 

Merkel to complete German cabinet line-up before bargaining begins
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-10-17 15:44

Germany's chancellor-to-be Angela Merkel will name the conservative ministers in her cabinet on Monday to complete the line-up of a coalition government which faces a formidable task to regenerate an ailing economy.

Merkel was to make her announcement shortly before the hard bargaining begins at 1500 GMT to hammer out a programme for the new government, in the first acid test for an alliance of political enemies.

The price Merkel paid for evicting Gerhard Schroeder from the chancellery after seven years was a power-sharing deal which hands his Social Democrats eight of the 14 cabinet posts, including the finance and foreign ministries.

Merkel will announce the identities of the six ministers her conservative Christian Union receives under the pact -- economy, interior, defence, agriculture, education and family, and the parliamentary speaker's chair.

Edmund Stoiber, the leader of the southern state of Bavaria, has already confirmed he will head the economy ministry.

Even before Merkel faces the difficulties posed by managing the Social Democrat ministers, she has clashed with Stoiber, who leads the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party of her Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Conservative leader Angela Merkel gives a press conference at her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party's headquarters in Berlin.
Conservative leader Angela Merkel gives a press conference at her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party's headquarters in Berlin.[AFP/file]
Merkel fought against Stoiber's wish to bring his trusted ally Horst Seehofer into the government because Seehofer has been a fierce critic of the conservatives' proposals to reform the health system.

Stoiber appears to have won the day, and Seehofer looks set to be appointed agriculture minister, sources close to the CSU said.

Arguments about who should fill the conservatives' roles raged all weekend, according to press reports.

Two candidates were in the running for defence ministry.

With Seehofer set to take the agriculture job, Michael Glos, the head of the CSU's parliamentary group, may miss out as his party will only take two cabinet posts.

The most likely choice now is Franz Josef Jung, a leading member of the Christian Democrat government in the central state of Hesse.

The interior ministry is more clearcut, with Wolfgang Schaeuble, a confidant of conservative former chancellor Helmut Kohl, returning to the job he occupied from 1989 to 1991 to add some much-needed experience to the cabinet.

Merkel has dismissed fears that her administration will get bogged down in inter-party squabbles.

"I see a spirit of camaraderie in this new government," she told Monday's issue of Der Spiegel magazine.

Schroeder will play no role in the new administration, yet many observers saw his influence in the line-up of Social Democrat (SPD) ministers named last week.

They included Schroeder's former right-hand man, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, as foreign minister, and Peer Steinbrueck, the former premier of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, as finance minister. SPD party leader Franz Muentefering, another Schroeder ally, will be vice-chancellor.

The negotiations on the government's programme could take four weeks and the cabinet may not be sworn in until mid-November.

There are signs Merkel has agreed to water down her more radical proposals to boost the economy, such as cutting employers' costs. With the Social Democrats watching her every move, she is expected to be forced into constant compromise.

The conservatives have identified four issues that must be agreed on in the negotiations -- a new budget, reviving the labour market and the welfare system and introducing tax reforms to promote economic growth.

The first so-called grand coalition government in Germany since the 1960s will take office with a mandate to cut an unemployment rate which is currently stuck above 11 percent.

The economy is hardly growing and faces intense competition from low-cost eastern European neighbours.



Franz Muentefering to be German vice chancellor
Soyuz space capsule lands
Iraq constitutional referendum opens
 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

Shenzhou VI touches down; astronauts in good conditions

 

   
 

China, S.Korea protest Koizumi's shrine visit

 

   
 

Wolfowitz: China no threat to the world

 

   
 

US presses China for more financial reforms

 

   
 

G-20 calls for balanced, sustainable growth

 

   
 

Canada to export 450,000 bpd of oil in 6 yrs

 

   
  Death toll estimate in South Asia quake above 54,000
   
  China, S.Korea protest Koizumi's shrine visit
   
  Sunnis appear to fall short in Iraq vote
   
  Cayman Islands braces for tropical storm
   
  Prodi may be Italy's center-left candidate
   
  West Bank shooting leaves 3 dead, 4 hurt
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
Germany getting first female chancellor
   
Conservative Merkel to be named German leader
   
Germany's Schroeder set to make way for 1st woman chancellor
  News Talk  
  Are the Republicans exploiting the memory of 9/11?  
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: 五月天丁香在线| 大妹子影视剧在线观看免费| 亚洲沟沟美女亚洲沟沟| 色婷婷丁香六月| 国产精品日本一区二区在线播放 | 色哟哟网站在线观看| 成人做受视频试看60秒| 亚洲中文字幕无码一区| 男男chinese同志gay露脸飞机| 国内少妇人妻丰满AV| 亚洲av一本岛在线播放| 自拍偷拍999| 国产精品一区高清在线观看| mm1313亚洲精品无码又大又粗| 日本最新免费二区| 亚洲国产成人资源在线软件| 粉嫩大学生无套内射无码卡视频| 国产又黄又爽胸又大免费视频| 91华人在线视频| 日本电影免费久久精品| 亚洲春色在线视频| 精品一区二区三区色花堂| 国产精品视频一区二区三区不卡 | 国产亚洲男人的天堂在线观看| 1000又爽又黄禁片在线久| 天天操天天干天天拍| 中文字幕一区二区三区久久网站| 男人肌肌桶女肌肌网站| 国产精品天天在线| jux662正在播放三浦惠理子| 日本japanese丰满奶水| 亚洲av最新在线网址| 欧美黑人粗硬大在线看| 国产另类的人妖ts视频| 手机看片福利在线| 在线视频日韩精品| 一级毛片视频播放| 日本a中文字幕| 九九热香蕉视频| 欧美性生交xxxxx久久久| 人人妻人人澡人人爽不卡视频 |