The following is an excerpt from an IHT article (which credits both Reuters and AFP, so take your pick). It is linked at the title and the link above:
Chancellor Gerhard Schröder remained defiant Sunday heading into meetings with Angela Merkel to resolve a dispute over which of them should lead Germany and to lay the foundations of a coalition government.
Three weeks after he refused to step aside in the wake of an inconclusive general election, Schröder had been under intense pressure from conservatives to concede defeat and to allow Merkel to be the first woman and the first easterner to become Germany's chancellor.
As I said in an earlier post, this coalition will not last. If they are having this much trouble settling this issue now, imagine what will transpire during the legislative process. Stalemate is what they will get, which is an outcome consistent with the deep divisions that remain in modern day Germany. And because of Schroeder's decision not to accept defeat graciously (See: Al Gore), Germany (as a nation) will suffer similar ramifications that the U.S. has been forced to endure, post 2000.
3 comments:
He's a socialist. What else could be expected?
Germany needs a new leader. He is obsessed too much with the Franco-German alliance. The days of De Gaulle and Adenauer have gone. Europe is expanding, evolving, and getting more diversified. Europe should be more open and Atlanticist. It will embrace Turkey.
Schröder is not the right leader in such an era.
I am not sure Turkey being a full member of the EU is in the world's or the EU's best interests, Shah.
But I do agree with you on Schroeder not being right for Germany, right now.
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