Bundeskanzlerin Merkel

Today was the day! Angela Merkel was elected by the Bundestag today and took up the position of Chancellor, the first woman and the first Ossie (former East German) to assume this role. The election, you will recall, was on September 18 and ended up with the German people giving neither of the main parties a clear majority. Further complicating the picture was the inability of either the SPD or the CDU to form a viable coalition government with their traditional partners (die Grüne for the SPD and the FDP for the CDU). So, after weeks of discussion and political horse-trading, a Grand Coalition was created, a Schwarz-Röt Koalition. Gerhard Schröder heads into retirement (or returns to his law practice) and Frau Dr. Merkel takes the helm.

The compromises involved in forging the Grand Coalition included ceding eight cabinet posts to the SPD including the critical ones of Labor, Foreign Ministry, and Finance along with the “traditional” SPD areas of focus, Health, Environment, and Development. Former SPD party chief, Fritz Müntefering assumes the Vice-Chancellorship as well as heading the Labor department. Müntefering, by the way, shocked his party a couple of weeks ago by bailing from the leadership in the midst of the wrangling over the shape of the Coalition government with the CDU. The new SPD party chief, Matthias Platzek, is, like Merkel, from the former East Germany and is a newcomer to national level governance in Germany. Der Speigel ran a cover article a week or so ago under the banner “Aufbruch Ost”, “The East Awakes” with a reproduction of an old Communist era propaganda poster with a young Soviet man and woman marching forward under the Red Flag, their faces replaced with those of Merkel and Platzek.

Unlike her predecessor, Schröder, Merkel took the oath of office with the traditional “Eidesformel” (oath formulation) including the line “…so wahr mir Gott helfe.”, “..so help me God.”

Now Germany (and the rest of us) are looking ahead to see if the new government can reduce the almost 12% unemployment nation-wide, get Germany’s overall economy back on track and maintain (at some level) the social safety net that Germans’ are accustomed to. One change already planned is a rise in the value added tax (Mehrwehrtsteuer) from 16% to 19%, so expect everything you wish to buy to cost more. The Coalition has also been arguing over an additional income tax on the very wealthy. Will Merkel lead Germany closer to the American position on Iraq and the war on terror? Stay tuned!

Cabinet ministers and their party affiliations:


Merkel Chancellor CDU
Münterfering Vice-Chancellor and Labor SPD
De Mazière Chancellery CDU
Steinmeier Foreign SPD
Schäuble Interior CDU
Zypries Justice SPD
Steinbrück Finance SPD
Glos Economy CDU
Jung Defense CDU
Von de Levin Family CDU
Schmidt Health SPD
Gabriel Environment SPD
Schavan Education CDU
Wieczorek-Zeul Development SPD
Tiefensee Transportation SPD
Seehofer Consumer/Agriculture CDU