Post by cenydd on Aug 15, 2013 12:06:21 GMT
The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has launched her re-election campaign by implying she is a safe pair of hands steering the economy.
Mrs Merkel addressed about 1,000 people in the picturesque medieval town of Seligenstadt, near Frankfurt.
News that the German economy grew by 0.7% in the second quarter boosted her campaign for a third term in power.
Her conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian allies have a big lead in opinion polls.
The election will be held on 22 September, and Mrs Merkel's campaign tour will take her to nearly 60 events before then.
A survey by the Forsa institute puts the CDU-CSU conservative group on 40%, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) second with 23% and the Greens - the SPD's campaign allies - on 13%.
Mrs Merkel addressed about 1,000 people in the picturesque medieval town of Seligenstadt, near Frankfurt.
News that the German economy grew by 0.7% in the second quarter boosted her campaign for a third term in power.
Her conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian allies have a big lead in opinion polls.
The election will be held on 22 September, and Mrs Merkel's campaign tour will take her to nearly 60 events before then.
A survey by the Forsa institute puts the CDU-CSU conservative group on 40%, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) second with 23% and the Greens - the SPD's campaign allies - on 13%.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23709332
Obviously she seems to be very popular and pretty much a dead cert for re-election, although she might have to form a different coalition for government, depending on how well her current partners do. It becomes more interesting in the EU context, though, because if this:
Mrs Merkel suggested she would be open to talking about the repatriation of powers later this year if she is re-elected as Germany’s leader. The European Union should consider whether it can “give something back” to national governments, she said.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/10243695/Angela-Merkel-Brussels-should-return-powers.html
That sounds like very much the same kind of language that Cameron has been using in the UK. Does this German election perhaps mark the start of a real change in thinking in the EU, and a positive move away from the ever-advancing federalism of the 'European Project' that has really been the dominant force within the EU over recent years?