It has announced for 2011 a structural reform of the income tax

Chancellor Merkel tried Tuesday, before the Bundestag, to clarify the programme of his second term, after two weeks of confusion, where several tenors of the majority were interpreted in a manner very different, even contradictory, the coalition agreement signed late October.

The Chancellor asked first of all, in the crisis Manager, priority of the Government's action. It has announced for 2011 a structural reform of the income tax. Repeating Word for Word the slogans of the campaign of his liberal allies, Chancellor has promised a "simple, low, just scale", believing that "labour must again worth." Furthermore, she stated that "fiscal policy is a policy of society". Angela Merkel and denied indirectly his new Minister of finance, Wolfgang Schäuble, who, these days, had multiplied reserves the schedule and the terms of the tax reform. It did however still not specify how it intends to finance the annual tax relief of 24 billion euros planned by the coalition contract from 2011. Support for growth instruments should stimulate activity and therefore, ultimately, the State coffers.

The Chancellor announced an extension of the partial unemployment very accommodating device currently in place - it partially supports the loss of wages of workers and charges employers, on twenty-four months. While companies were originally file a record before December 31 to be eligible, they will have a new time, a decision hailed by the BDA, which represents employers. The head of the Government still called on banks to use all instruments of public support available to them to ensure their role in financing of the economy and avoid a shortage of credit, at the time where companies should engage in new investment.

Repeating already used formulas, Angela Merkel conceded that "we can fail." It did not also at what pace it has reduce the public deficit, which is expected to rise this year to 3.5 of GDP, and 5 in 2010. The Minister of Finance has said from Brussels, be in phase with the injunction of the European Commission to return to the nails of the Pact of stability here in 2013 (read here). Berlin seems more open to an early resumption of the process of fiscal consolidation than Paris.

In addition to the management of the crisis, the cabinet Merkel II proposes to meet the demographic challenge of a population decreases and is aging very quickly. In the direction of the CSU Bavarian allies, the Chancellor defended the principle of allowances for parents who want to raise their children at home, instead of entrusting to a crèche.

Green Chancellor

The Chancellor then referred to the global environmental challenges. Attached to his image of Chancellor green, it raised the possibility to go itself to the December Copenhagen Summit, which should attempt to fix a post-Kyoto framework.

Finally, it announced a "new phase" in the military engagement in Afghanistan, then Washington grows Berlin to engage more.

The leader of the opposition, Frank - Walter Steinmeier, immediately after the speech by the Chancellor, fired red ball on his program, that it will result to "divide the society", citing for example the project of decoupling wages and health insurance contributions. The former candidate of the SPD in the Chancellery has demonstrated a fighting spirit and aggression that had it totally lacks during of the campaign for the legislative. On the benches of the opposition social democratic and green showed closeness.

In contrast, the radical left of Die Linke, without which the left can hope to return to power, marked its distance. The SPD is this weekend a great Congress of Refoundation in the course of which the staff will be renewed.