Merkel takes power as first female chancellor in Germany

ANGELA MERKEL took power yesterday as Germany’s eighth post-Second World War leader and its first female chancellor, heading an unwieldy alliance with the tough job of turning around Europe’s biggest economy after years of stagnation and six months of political turmoil.

The 51-year-old former scientist succeeded Gerhard Schroeder, whose government of Social Democrats and Greens was ousted by voters on September 18.

Parliament voted 397 to 202, with 12 abstentions, well more than the 308 votes she needed.

Ms Merkel must now coax action from a joyless coalition made up of her conservatives and left-wing Social Democrats. The election results showed little popular support for tough action many economists and business groups say is needed to attack 11% unemployment and sluggish growth.

And she faces foreign policy challenges such as nursing a recovering relationship with the US.

Ms Merkel, who heads the Christian Democratic Union, will begin her term in office - four years, if the coalition lasts - with visits to France and Britain on Wednesday and Thursday, and a visit to Washington expected in the next few weeks.

Ms Merkel’s more pro- American outlook contrasts with Schroeder’s criticism of the war in Iraq. She also has suggested that Berlin will place less emphasis on relations with Paris and Moscow, and says she views Europe as a partner, not a counterweight, to the US.

Still, two close Schroeder allies - French President Jacques Chirac and Russian President Vladimir Putin - were quick to offer their congratulations yesterday.

In a potential sign of trouble ahead at home, more than 50 members of Merkel’s 448-MP coalition voted against her. Still, the alliance’s parliamentary strength allowed her to win easily with 397 votes for and 202 against.

Ms Merkel, typically reserved in public, broke out in a smile after the vote.

Her only public reaction: “I accept the result.”

Mr Schroeder was the first to walk over and congratulate her.

Ms Merkel was sworn in later. The Protestant minister’s daughter, who grew up in officially atheist East Germany, added the optional words, “So help me God”, to her oath, a phrase Mr Schroeder had left out.

She is the first chancellor to have grown up behind the Iron Curtain - until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the trained physicist was an unknown researcher at the East German Academy of Sciences.

Economists and business leaders say Germany’s chief problem is the high cost of labour, particularly non- wage costs such as payroll taxes for unemployment insurance, pensions and old-age care.

To get into the chancellery, Ms Merkel had to give away many of her campaign promises, including a proposal to cut back on the regional wage bargaining that unions prefer and many companies dislike.

Still, President Horst Koehler said as he formally appointed Merkel’s Cabinet: “It is good that Germany once again has a government that is capable of acting.”