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 Germany
Germany's Unemployment Rate Reaches 12%
Germany's recession continued in 2003: for the
previous three years, Europe's biggest economy had the lowest growth rate
among EU countries. In Aug. 2003, Schröder unfurled an ambitious
fiscal-reform package and called his proposal “the most significant set of
structural reforms in the social history of Germany.” Schröder's reforms,
however, did little to rejuvenate the economy and angered many Germans,
accustomed to their country's generous social welfare programs. His
reforms reduced national health insurance and cut unemployment benefits at
a time when unemployment had reached an alarming 12%.
National elections in Sept. 2005 ended in a
deadlock: the conservative CDU/CSU and its leader, Angela Merkel, received
35.2% and Gerhard Schröder's SPD garnered 34.3%. After weeks of wrangling
to form a governing coalition, the first left-right “grand coalition” in
Germany in 36 years was cobbled together, and on Nov. 22, Merkel became
Germany's first female chancellor. During her first year, Merkel showed
strong leadership in international relations, but her domestic economic
reform agenda has stalled. Her first major initiative, reforming the
health care system, was widely viewed as ineffectual.
President Kohler was reelected by the Federal
Assembly, receiving 613 votes against 503 for Gesine Schwan.
See also
Encyclopedia:
Germany
.
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes:
Germany
Federal Statistical Office
http://www.destatis.de/e_home.htm
.
Information Please® Database, © 2008 Pearson Education,
Inc. All rights reserved.
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