久久亚洲国产成人影院-久久亚洲国产的中文-久久亚洲国产高清-久久亚洲国产精品-亚洲图片偷拍自拍-亚洲图色视频

  Home>News Center>World
         
 

German election marks crossroads
(CNN)
Updated: 2005-09-17 15:30

Undecided voters may tip Sunday's German national election, a contest between competing visions over how to re-energize the stagnant economy and repair Berlin's battered ties with Washington. Polls suggest a coalition government is the likely outcome.


Schroeder has trimmed his poll deficit from 21 points to 6.
Analysts still predict the country will get its first female chancellor in Angela Merkel, the leader of the conservative Christian Democrats.

But incumbent Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's center-left Social Democrats have been climbing in the polls in recent weeks, and Merkel's ability to muster a coalition majority with the small, pro-business Free Democrats is in doubt.

If she gets that majority, the former physicist can proceed with proposals to streamline the tax system, make it easier for small companies to fire people and loosen the rigid labor market -- tackling an 11.4 percent unemployment rate and troublingly low rates of economic growth.

Without a majority Merkel may still wind up as chancellor but sharing power in a coalition with the Social Democrats -- an arrangement that would spell a less radical break and, in the worst case, policy paralysis.

Schroeder described himself Friday as the stronger candidate, able to stand up for Germany's rights even in the face of foreign pressure -- harking back to his resistance to the U.S.-led war against Iraq that helped return him to office in 2002.

The question Germans face at the ballot box "is a question of whether someone is able to withstand pressure from outside and stand up for what is Germany's best interest," Schroeder told a cheering crowd.

At the same time, across the capital, Merkel urged voters to remember how Sunday's ballot came to be called by Schroeder purposely losing a vote of confidence in parliament in July.

"The chancellor recognized that he does not even have the support of his own people," Merkel said. "And whomever is not supported by his own people cannot expect the German people to put their faith in him or his government."

Polls show Merkels' preferred alliance right on the edge of gaining a parliamentary majority, mustering between 48 and 51 percent in a survey by the Forsa agency released Friday.

The survey of 2,004 people, carried out between Monday and Friday with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, found that 25 percent have yet to decide for whom to vote, or even whether to vote at all.

"Even though there are probably a lot of nonvoters among the people who are undecided, this proportion of uncertain voters indicates continuing movement even shortly before the election," Forsa chief Manfred Guellner said.

The electorate seems disgruntled with the current government of Social Democrats and Greens, which lags between 38 and 41 percent. But they also seem fearful a right-wing government might bring change too fast, no matter how much Merkel has tried to assure them she won't take an ax to the welfare state.

A recent Infratest dimap poll showed that the most popular coalition among voters was a bipartisan combination of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats. That gained the support of 36 percent, compared with 29 percent for Merkel's center-right combination.

The daily Frankfurter Allgemeine predicted a broad coalition would feature "the Christian Democrats as the engine and the Social Democrats as the brakes."

Germany's sluggish growth rates -- a mere 1.6 percent counted as a meager recovery last year after three years of almost nothing -- have been a drag on all of Europe, since Germany makes up about a third of the economy in the 12 countries using the euro.

A turnaround would point the way for the rest of the continent in its debate over how to keep politically popular welfare states running in the face of global competition from lower-wage countries.

Schroeder called for an early election, a year ahead of time, in frustration at resistance to his own attempts to fix the economy. After seven years in power, he has seen unemployment hit record highs, and his limited measures cutting taxes and long-term jobless benefits are slow to show convincing results.

Germany's role in Europe and the world is also at stake.

Merkel would probably turn Germany back toward the United States, its longtime security partner from the Cold War. She could also loosen the ties with France that Schroeder cultivated as his opposition to the war in Iraq made him unwelcome in the White House.

Another big change would be Germany's position on Turkish membership in the European Union.

Merkel opposes Turkey's bid, proposing instead a limited "privileged partnership." Schroeder believes letting Turkey in would help bind the Muslim country strategically to Europe.

Which way Germany goes may depend on tiny shifts in support.

Schroeder's Social Democrats have clawed back some support in recent weeks after the media-savvy chancellor bested the reserved Merkel in a television debate. He launched a concerted attack on her main finance adviser, Paul Kirchhof, for advocating a 25 percent flat-rate income tax, even though Merkel says she will not implement that idea and is proposing only more modest cuts to upper and lower rates.

Polls suggest the two parties in Schroeder's coalition, together with the new Left Party, could achieve a left-wing majority. But animosity and policy differences with the Left Party -- a combination of former East German communists and left-wing defectors from the Social Democrats -- make such an alliance unlikely.

That limits Schroeder's chance of staying in the chancellery. He seems unlikely to want -- or be offered -- a role in a "grand coalition" under Merkel; and, along with his challenger, has spoken out against the two rival parties working together.



Schwarzenegger seeks re-election in 2006
Suicide bombing kills at least 152 in Iraq
Afghanistan's President calls for increased support
 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

China presents amendment to document

 

   
 

Summit endorses watered-down UN reform

 

   
 

Mainland population below 1.37 billion by 2010

 

   
 

China, US to resume textile talks

 

   
 

Bush rules out tax hike to fund recovery

 

   
 

China sets up new oil company

 

   
  Nations redouble their efforts against bird flu
   
  Summit endorses watered-down UN reform
   
  Son of Florida gov. Bush arrested
   
  Iraq cleric urges unity against violence
   
  Bush rules out tax hike to fund recovery
   
  Schwarzenegger says he'll seek re-election
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  News Talk  
  Are the Republicans exploiting the memory of 9/11?  
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: 日韩免费毛片全部不收费 | 99re66热这里只有精品免费观看 | 国产91香蕉在线精品 | 深夜做爰性大片很黄很色视频 | 亚洲 中文 欧美 日韩 在线人 | 一级毛片不卡 | 狠狠色丁香婷婷综合 | 国内精品久久久久久网站 | 一级成人毛片免费观看欧美 | 亚洲人妖女同在线播放 | 国产成人亚洲综合一区 | 成人免费观看高清在线毛片 | 欧美日韩国产58香蕉在线视频 | 老师张开腿让我捅 | 亚洲日韩精品欧美一区二区一 | 日本成人在线视频网站 | 香港三级日本三级妇人三级 | 国产一区二区三区免费播放 | 日本特黄a级高清免费酷网 日本特黄特色 | 国产成人狂喷潮在线观看2345 | 亚洲精品在线网 | 草草久久97超级碰碰碰免费 | 毛片a区| 国产精品白浆流出视频 | 国产伦精一区二区三区 | 亚洲品质自拍视频 | 久久99久久精品国产99热 | 久久国产经典视频 | 国产韩国精品一区二区三区久久 | 精品久久久久久中文字幕一区 | 国产欧美日韩在线观看一区二区三区 | 久久久久久久久久久久久久久久久久 | 日韩色视频一区二区三区亚洲 | 老少配性xxxxxx | 国产午夜人做人视频羞羞 | 精品国产免费第一区二区三区日韩 | 国产亚洲精品成人久久网站 | 国产中文99视频在线观看 | 国产成人精品三级在线 | 久久在线国产 | 久久久久亚洲国产 |