Victorious Merkel vows swift coalition

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed yesterday to have a new centre-right German government in place by the time Germany marks 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9.

She said tax cuts were possible in 2011 but rejected savings measures that might strangle an incipient economicrecovery.

Voters on Sunday ended the conservative Merkel’s right-left “grand coalition” and gave her a comfortable centre-right majority – thanks to a strong performance by her new government ally, the business-oriented Free Democrats.