GERMANY: Solid finances, no new debts and repaying old ones are among the core issues of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU party as the conservatives enter the campaign ahead of the September election

Record ID: 346784

  • Title: GERMANY: Solid finances, no new debts and repaying old ones are among the core issues of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU party as the conservatives enter the campaign ahead of the September election
  • Date: 23rd June 2013
  • Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (JUNE 23, 2013) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF "HUMBOLDTBOX" VIEWING PLATFORM WHERE GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL'S CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS (CDU) AND ITS SISTER PARTY CHRISTIAN SOCIAL UNION (CSU) MET TO DISCUSS CAMPAIGN PROGRAMME CAMERA CREW AND PHOTOGRAPHER MERKEL STEPPING OUT OF CAR POLICE NEARBY MERKEL WALKING PAST AND INTO MEETING FINANCE MINISTER WOLFGANG SCHAEU
  • Embargoed: 8th July 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA618G4SWR2LS7961AE18Y9ASMM
  • Story Text: Three months before Germans elect a new parliament, Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday (June 23) presented her conservative Christian Democrat (CDU) party's campaign programme.
    Speaking to reporters in Berlin, Merkel said that among the core issues would be "solid finances, stopping new debts, paying debts back and investing into the future."
    The chancellor also said that "full employment and a minimum wage negotiated by unions and employers" was high on the agenda, calling the plans a "very ambitious goal."
    She cited "considerable improvements on the labour market," adding that when she was first elected in 2005, "we had around five million unemployed. Today, we have under three million."
    Details of a draft programme for the election campaign released last week showed plans to increase the use of German in Europe if the conservatives are re-elected on September 22.
    The programme called for the language to be treated on a par with English and French in top Brussels institutions.

    "German is the most frequently spoken native language and one of three working languages of the European Union," the draft programme of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), read.

    "We will push for a further strengthening of the German language in Europe. Our goal is that it is treated in the same way as English and French in the European Parliament, the (European) Commission and (European) Council."
    English and French have been the dominant working languages of the EU in the past few decades, although French has declined since 2004 as the bloc expanded from 15 to 27 members, most from eastern Europe where English is a more common second language.
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