European socialists have taken another beating at the hands of a center-right party. This election triumph follows election victories in Austria, France, Italy, the European parliament and improving poll numbers for conservatives in the United Kingdom and Spain.
German voters gave Chancellor Angela Merkel a second term on Sunday and a mandate to partner with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) in a government that will rein in the role of the state in Europe’s largest economy.
Merkel, 55, has ruled for the past four years in a “grand coalition” with the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), an awkward partnership of traditional rivals.
The election result frees her from the shackles of that marriage of convenience, allowing her to form the center-right government she has argued is best placed to nurture Germany back to health after its worst recession in the post-war era.
Merkel, who narrowly squeezed into power in 2005, appeared relieved at her clear-cut victory in an election which pollsters had predicted could again be a cliffhanger.
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Kristofer Lorelli can be contacted at lorville@rogers.com, on Facebook and Twitter/Kris_Lorelli
September 27th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
The best part is that the Free Democrats (FDP) will have a larger share of the coalition than ever in the history of the modern German Bundesrepublik. Hopefully the FDP can ram their election promises down the throats of the CDU, quite frankly. And Chancellor Merkel appeared quite amenable to the pro-growth, tax-cutting ideas the FDP propose.
In foreign affairs, the eastward-soc/com pull of the former coalition party of the Social Democrats (SPD) should finally be weakened. And the increasing pro-market orientation of the US’s traditional allies may help counterbalance the leftist tendencies of Obama’s foreign and trade policies.
September 27th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
Yay!
September 28th, 2009 at 5:09 am
Unfortunately the time window isn’t big. The upper house of the parliament, which consists of the state governments has a centre-right majority right now. State elections are held in every of the 16 states in different times, so the majority in the upper house can change back and forth. However, the opposition parties in the lower house tend to gain. The next elections are being held (May 2010) in the traditional left-leaning Nordrhein-Westfalen, which currently has a centre-right goverment. Till then the federal government has to push its agenda rather vigorously in order to accomplish something. Afterwards they might have to compromise with the opposition, which is never the real deal. You think that’s strange? Welcome to german politics!
September 28th, 2009 at 7:00 am
Great news!