| |
|
|
|
|
|
||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
The Week in Germany: Politics July 8, 2005 Schroeder's Social Democrats unveil platform German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democratic Party (SPD) has unveiled an election platform that promises to preserve Germany's traditional social safety net while boosting the country's economic competitiveness.
"We have a program that speaks to the middle of our society because it strikes a prudent balance between economic efficiency and social sensitivity," Schroeder told reporters Tuesday. The 41-page manifesto, called "Confidence in Germany," was adopted at a party congress just days after Schroeder deliberately lost a parliamentary vote of confidence in an attempt to bring forward elections to September. The platform focuses on domestic issues and includes a number of measures that are expected to appeal to the party's working-class base, which has soured on Schroeder amid poor economic news and the introduction of his unpopular "Agenda 2010" economic reforms. Among them are a three percentage point tax hike for Germans with annual incomes of over 250,000 Eur ($298,000) to help fund research and education and the extension of minimum wage provisions to cover more companies and workers. Yet the program also calls for further pro-business reforms, including a cut in the base corporate tax rate to 19% from 25%. In a measure designed to boost flagging domestic demand, a tax break is planned for households doing home repair work. For families, the SPD has proposed granting parents an entire year's salary if they leave work for that time to look after a new baby. On foreign policy, Schroeder pledged to "combine our capability for alliances with the self-confidence to have our own opinion on important questions."
The opposition conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), led by chancellor candidate Angela Merkel, has so far kept a tight lid on the platform they will unveil next Monday. Merkel has, however, pledged to put jobs and growth at the center of her campaign to become Germany's first woman leader, with likely proposals including cutting non-wage labor costs, easing firing rules and allowing more flexible working hours. She blasted the SPD manifesto, saying: "It is a program that is not based on the realities of Germany but one which refuses to face these realities." Current opinion polls suggest the SPD will lose the planned general elections to Merkel and the conservatives. The latest Forsa poll for Stern newsweekly found support for CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, at 47% against 26% for the Social Democrats, with both figures unchanged from a week earlier. Adding to Schroeder's troubles is the rise of a new left-wing party that has targeted the votes of traditional SPD supporters. The new alliance of the reformed communist PDS and labor union activists scored 10% in the Forsa poll, making it the third-strongest political force in Germany ahead of the junior coalition partner Greens with 7% and the pro-business FDP with 6%. Links:
|
|
More from Germany.info  Newsletters
 Printer-Friendly
Page
Email This Article |
|||
|
||||||
|
||||||
