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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bridge Player who wrote (115646)	5/23/2005 1:34:42 PM
From: Elsewhere	Respond to of 793883

<If Schroder is defeated, is Germany likely to become more pro-business[?]> Definitely. If there is a defeat it will be by a coalition of Conservatives (CDU) and Libertarians (FDP). The unions have some influence on the CDU but far less than on the Social Democrats (SPD). The FDP is the most pro-business of all German parties. Some areas where I expect changes: - Simplification of tax system. - Reduction of excessive employee rights. For instance, Germany has the unique system of an automatic 50% representation of employees in a company board ("paritätische Mitbestimmung"). That significantly inhibits foreign investment. - Reduction of union power. Germany has the mechanism of a "Flächentarifvertrag", i.e. there is a general treaty between employers and unions which is applied to all companies. In a difficult economic climate, such as now, not so strong companies would prefer to negotiate lower wages for their employees. They aren't allowed to do so and are frequently driven to insolvency. - More freedom and competition for universities. <... or turn towards more socialistic, more leftist policies?> Fortunately there's only one party to the left of the SPD, the PDS - which is the successor of the former East German communist SED. They are on a 2-3% level. A CDU-FDP government will probably mean more heated discussions between various interest groups. Once Merkel gets going I expect many protests and demonstrations. But that's democracy. I prefer open (unarmed) conflicts to the suffocating stagnation of the past years. Some have called the prevailing climate a "Mikado game" (pick-a-stick): whoever moves first has lost. I also expect foreign policy changes. Merkel won't cozy up with Chirac and Putin as much as Schröder has done, good-bye "Madrid-Paris-Berlin-Moscow axis." The US-German gap will narrow. [This posting is also an answer to message Message 21349617 of John Carragher.]