- Title: Merkel's conservatives promise full employment by 2025
- Date: 3rd July 2017
- Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (JULY 3, 2017) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF CDU BUILDING CDU FLAG CDU INITIALS IN WINDOW MERKEL AND SEEHOFER WALKING UP TO PODIUM MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL, SAYING: "It is a government programme that brings the country together and doesn't divide it. And in this programme we look to the future. We want to use the chances that the future offers us. Our future project for Germany is called: Prosperity and security for all. And by the end of the next legislative period we want the people to be better off than today." JOURNALIST TAKING NOTES (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL, SAYING: "Our goal is that we want to have achieved full employment by 2025. We think we can do it. If we look back to 2005 then we would have been laughed at if we had presented this as a goal. At the time, March 2006, I was confronted with the fact that we had 5 million unemployed. By 2013 we had got it to almost 3 million unemployed and we took on the subject of full employment but we still couldn't set a clear deadline. Now in 2017 we have managed to halve unemployment from 2005 and now we say that by 2025 we can halve unemployment in Germany again from the current 5.5 percent to under 3 percent and that is what we call full employment." JOURNALIST LOOKING AT MANIFESTO (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL, SAYING: "The fact that we have very good financial possibilities because of the strong labour market means that we can say no new debt in the next legislative period, no tax increases and for mid to low earners tax relief to the tune of 15 billion euros. So that the maximum tax rate will be reached at 60,000 annual income. We want to abolish the solidarity tax for all and will cut it down by 4 billion euros in the next legislative period." VARIOUS OF JOURNALISTS TAKING NOTES (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL, SAYING: "We will advocate a strong state. We will strengthen the police and develop the army and we are of the opinion that the question of security is strongly tied to the topic of development cooperation and crisis prevention." PEOPLE LISTENING ON GALLERY (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL, SAYING: "With this programme we want to show that we are enthusiastic about the future that we are curious about the future and that we have the strength for the future. And we have developed this programme in this spirit and will present it to the people of Germany and speak about it and campaign for it." WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL, SAYING: "As far as our comments on blind faith go, it is not that we thought oh well a blind hen will also eventually find some corn, rather we meant to say that we worked together with a lot of trust and without any kind of friction." MERKEL AND SEEHOFER ON PODIUM CLOSE OF MERKEL (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL, SAYING: "At some point, of everything goes well, we will have an agreement within the coalition where we will then be much more restricted by its corset. Here you can still dream a little about what is necessary for the next four years. We took this very seriously and so it was fun and I am always excited about the future, curious, wanting to be informed about digitalization where you have to learn something new every day, like the fact that competition law doesn't fit anymore with the private sector and so on. I learned a lot and I enjoyed doing it." WIDE OF MERKEL AND SEEHOFER (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL, SAYING: "As far as the European Monetary Fund goes the idea is to further develop the ESM (European Stability Mechanism) into a fund which, should there be difficulties in certain euro countries in the future, could lead to the ESM playing a stronger role? The European Monetary Fund could play a stronger role, maybe even takeover completely. But that still hasn't been discussed in detail and is dependent on strict criteria being formulated." MEDIA MERKEL AND SEEHOFER HOLDING UP PARTY MANIFESTOS WITH MERKEL JOKING THAT THEY ARE IDENTICAL AND THEN HOLDING ONE MANIFESTO TOGETHER WITH MERKEL JOKING, NOT THAT PEOPLE SAY WE CAN'T EVEN HOLD THE PARTY PROGRAMME TOGETHER. CLOSE OF MANIFESTO AND MERKEL AND SEEHOFER LEAVING NEWS CONFERENCE
- Embargoed: 17th July 2017 14:17
- Keywords: CDU/CSU Merkel elections election programme Seehofer
- Location: BERLIN, GERMANY
- City: BERLIN, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
- Reuters ID: LVA0036O5VGW7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives promised Germany more police, more homes and full employment within eight years when they presented their programme on Monday (July 3) for an election in which she will seek a fourth term in office.
With Europe's biggest economy growing robustly, Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), are able to offer voters tax relief and more investment after the Sept. 24 ballot.
The allies hold a clear opinion poll lead over the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), but would still need to team up with another party to govern.
On Monday they added the goal of full employment - which they define as a jobless rate of less than 3 percent - by 2025 to their list of campaign pledges.
"We think we can do this," Merkel told a news conference with CSU leader Horst Seehofer convened to present the election programme, adding that jobs were central to the quest for 'prosperity and security for all'.
Germany's jobless rate is currently at a post-reunification low of 5.5 percent. A level of 3 percent has not been seen since the "Economic Miracle" boom of the mid-1970s.
The conservative parties want to add 15,000 police officers in the 16 federal states, build 1.5 million homes during the next parliamentary term, and expand Germany's broadband network.
This responds to pressure from the International Monetary Fund and European Commission, which have said Berlin has room to lift investment infrastructure, which would help reduce its current account deficit and benefit weaker euro zone peers.
Merkel said an expanded version of the euro zone's bailout fund - the European Stability Mechanism - could play a bigger role in future crises, and perhaps act alone.
In tackling Greece's debt crisis, the euro zone has teamed up with the IMF at the insistence of German lawmakers. However, the Fund has proven a reluctant partner.
Last week, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said there were discrepancies between Germany, EU institutions and the IMF on whether Greece's debt was sustainable.
The CDU/CSU are polling around 40 percent, some 16 percentage point ahead of the SPD, their current coalition partner. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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