Word: merkel
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...just days to go before the German parliamentary election, the suspense is building. For the past four years, Germany has been governed by a so-called Grand Coalition of the two biggest parties in parliament: the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU) and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD). Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor and leader of the CDU, hopes to drop her current partners and govern instead with the liberal Free Democrats (FDP). But a tight electoral race and the complexity of the German voting system mean that outcome is far from certain...
...goes industry, so goes social democracy. Merkel is winning in Germany because support for the SPD, once in the mid-forties at the polls, is now down to less than 25%. With its base cracking, the left does what comes naturally; it splinters. In Germany, the first to bolt were the Greens in the 1970s, with a policy mix of anarchy, culture wars, environmentalism and pacifism. They are now safely on the road to embourgeoisement, and no wonder: the bulk of their supporters - teachers, social workers, the "caring classes" - are employed by the state. Next to go was the hard...
...Germany, the Social Democrats are battered by both the hard left - Die Linke - and the soft left, Merkel's Christian Democrats. At least they have a good chance of returning to government as the CDU's junior partner. Merkel might find it too onerous to link up with the FDP, which favors more market and less state. (Read about Merkel in the 2009 TIME...
...River Spree, and symbols of the nation's astounding resilience come into view. The Reichstag, opened in 1894 when Germany was a young nation-state, and later burned as the Nazis took power, is now the home to a thriving democracy. The Chancellery is currently occupied by Angela Merkel, the first woman and first Ossi to become Chancellor. Barring any great upsets she will still be there after the elections, her low-key pragmatism in tune with most in her country...
...Berlin A Deadly Air Strike Hits Home German Chancellor Angela Merkel is facing growing criticism at home and abroad after a bombing in northern Afghanistan ordered by German troops killed dozens of people, including civilians. In an address to parliament, Merkel expressed regret but insisted she would not "accept premature judgments" about the incident, the deadliest involving the nation's military since World War II. The Sept. 4 strike on two fuel trucks hijacked by the Taliban, which was carried out by U.S. fighter jets, has heightened the Afghan war's unpopularity in Germany and erodes confidence in Merkel...