Schroder refuses any change of course
Berlin : Cécile Calla
[19 août 2004]
(Edited for length)
Faced with a growing protest, Chancellor Gerhard Schroder counter- attacks. Aware of the patent failure of communication of his social reforms, he decided yesterday to make a speech to defend his policy actions in mid- course. Before an audience of journalists, Schroder drew a positive balance sheet on his reforms and reaffirmed his intention to maintain the chancellorship after 2006.And if he confesses his worry at the growing shrinkage of his party in the opinion polls, he refuses any change of course and assures that the first positive effects of his reforms will appear later in 2006, in time for the next elections to parliament. To better drive in the nail with respect to his adversaries, he declares he does not see "another serious alternative for Germany".
Nevertheless, concerned to calm the social climate in East Germany, he showed himself understanding in respect of the protests that his reforms aroused and expressed his respect to East Germans for their behavior since the fall of the Wall. For two weeks, demonstrations were revived with the traditional parades of Monday in 1989, following to demand the withdrawal of the recent reform of the labor market called Hartz IV. This new system for the agenda of 2010, foresees the notable reduction of social benefits for unemployment of long duration.
After the reforms of health insurance and retirement, this supplementary cut is a step too far in the eyes of the population. And despite some retouches made in the emergency of last week, following the pressure from the street, the protest did not stop growing. Last Monday, several tens of thousands of persons paraded in the street of a number of German cities, particularly in the new states.
Be that as it may, the chancellor remains firm and will not change anything in Harz IV. "The reform will enter, as planned, into effect the first of January 2005." The chancellor counts on the information campaign which is coming to "put an end to all unjustified fears caused by Hartz IV", he continued.....
...Interrogated on the consequences of the withdrawal of part of the American troops, the chancellor already planned that the villages concerned will not receive financial aid from the State. One of the heads of the Christian Democrat parliamentary faction, Wolfgang Schauble, demanded that the government consider the economic consequences of the GIs withdrawal. And to put an end to speculations on an eventual sanction of Germany, following its opposition to the war, Schroder confirmed that the plans for the withdrawal preceded the controversy surrounding Iraq....
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