| inbluevt | Date: Monday, 2013/09/30, 9:26 AM | Message # 1 | DMCA |
|
|
Private
Group: Blocked
Messages: 1024
|
A sigh of relief can be heard around the Continent, where many European countries are hopeful that a left-leaning German coalition partner could steer Angela Merkel toward a gentler course and less austerity in managing the euro crisis.
On Sunday evening, Günther Oettinger had himself chauffeured to the conservatives' Berlin headquarters to attend their election party. The results for his party were sensational, but the European Union's energy commissioner was not in a celebratory mood. "Damn it," Oettinger said as he leaned into the backseat of his black sedan. The projections were showing that German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) would win the election, giving them a slim absolute majority in
the German parliament, the Bundestag. He made a face. From the point of view of the Eurocrats in Brussels, it would be a disaster if the conservatives tried to govern the country entirely on their own.
The German chancellor might then have to push through her policies on Europe with nothing more than a one-vote majority -- making it extremely difficult for her to overcome resistance
within her own party, not to mention surmount the overwhelming majority of the opposition in the Bundesrat, the upper legislative chamber that represents the states. Oettinger would rather not even think about that possibility.
Somewhat later, when the projections showed that it was much less likely for the conservatives to win an absolute majority, Oettinger relaxed again. He is firmly convinced that there will be a grand coalition with the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), even though he sees the appeal of an alliance between the conservatives and the environmentalist Green Party. "A grand coalition is good for Europe," he says.
More
When Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats fell just short of winning an absolute majority in parliament in Sunday's election, many of Germany's European partners breathed a collective sigh of relief. A slim absolute majority for Germany's conservatives could have posed a huge obstacle to the next efforts to save the euro. Here, Merkel and French President François Hollande meet at Elysee Palace in Paris. Many Europeans would like to see more of this kind of sentiment between the two leaders.
Message edited by inbluevt - Monday, 2013/09/30, 9:44 AM |
|
|
| |
Main 
