The leaders of Germany's main parties debated last night but no clear winner emerged according to instant opinion polls. Watch BBC report. A draw might, however, be something of a setback for Mrs Merkel. Her CDU party's great advantage has been her strong lead in all opinion polls as first choice for German Chancellor. The […]
Germany's CDU has become familar with losing election-winning leads in opinion polls. At the last election it saw a large opinion poll lead eroded by concerns at the flat tax agenda of an adviser to Angela Merkel. The election before that saw Gerhard Schroeder return from the political dead because of his energetic campaign against […]
Current opinion polls point to Angela Merkel not only remaining Chancellor when Germany votes on 27th September but she should also be free to govern without the left-wing Social Democrats. Since 2005 she has had to govern in an awkward grand coalition with the SPD. In that election her party won 35.2% and the SPD […]
The poster for CDU candidate Vera Lengsfeld has the slogan: "We have more to offer"! A couple of weeks ago we featured the extraordinary posters of the Czech Civic Democrats.
Under pressure from the CSU section of her centre right party – Angela Merkel has agreed to include tax cuts in a €50bn stimulus package for Germany. The Times has more: "The idea seems to be to announce a package just before Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration on January 20. The combination of US and German […]
The British Conservative Party was delighted yesterday when Germany’s left-leaning finance minister, Peer Steinbruck, used an interview with Newsweek to describe Gordon Brown’s large fiscal stimulus as "crass Keynesianism" and "breathtaking". In today’s Independent, Shadow Chancellor George Osborne writes: "How ironic. In the very same week that Gordon Brown stood up in Parliament and claimed […]
David Cameron met Angela Merkel yesterday (library photograph) in the latest example of the increasing cooperation between UK Tories and continental, centre right parties. The FT reports that the UK Tory leader and German Chancellor agreed to resist protectionism as a response to international economic turmoil. The newspaper also suggests that despite differences on the […]
Is Germany’s CDU edging leftwards? It’s not the first time this question has been asked and it was asked again recently by The Economist. The Economist was reflecting upon ‘The Rüttgers effect’ – the effect of the CDU premier of Germany’s most populated state, North Rhine-Westphalia. Rüttgers, who styles himself as "the workers’ leader" has […]