NEWS POINT : The new German chancellor : Angela Merkel

By Charles Keller and Marion Camus

INTRODUCTION :

As she announced the deal that will make her chancellor, Angela Merkel looked relieved and happy, but there was little sense of triumph.

Her reaction was oddly subdued, considering that Mrs. Merkel is breaking the mould of German politics.

Not only will she be the country's first woman chancellor, she will also be the first leader to have grown up in communist East Germany.

But Mrs. Merkel had to be pushed by journalists to admit that she was pleased at the agreement with the Social Democrats.

"I'm in a good mood," she said, "but I know that there is a lot of work ahead."

About the compromise coalition ,some observers put this down to Mrs. Merkel's Protestant work ethic.

But it is more likely a reflection of the intensely difficult negotiations of the past three weeks and the prospect of more to come.

The two parties - which until recently were bitter rivals - don't trust each other. Negotiations on the details of future government policy are likely to drag on till mid-November - before the hard business of the grand compromise coalition can begin.

Mrs. Merkel may have won the battle for the chancellorship, but it came at a price. The Social Democrats have taken eight of the 14 ministries, including the key posts of finance, labour and foreign affairs. There are also signs that Mrs. Merkel has agreed to water down her reform policies to boost the flagging German economy - such as cuts in payroll costs. That is not likely to go down well with reform-minded CDU MPs.

But there is also anger among the Social Democrats. Their outgoing minister for economics Wolfgang Clement accused the leadership of "losing its nerve too soon." The most painful sacrifice for the SPD is the loss of its charismatic leader Gerhard Schroeder, who stepped aside as chancellor to allow the coalition with the CDU to go ahead. There is strong speculation that many rank and file Social Democrats will vote against the coalition pact at the forthcoming party conference, which is set for early November. They argue that while Mr. Schroeder didn't win the election, he didn't lose it either; they also point to the fact that the grouping of left-wing parties in parliament is bigger than the right-wing block. A no vote by the Social Democrats could throw all the cards up into the air.

Even if Mrs. Merkel does manage to survive the next few weeks of wrangling before a government is formed, there are fears the coalition could be short-lived. Dirk Niebel the General Secretary of the opposition Liberals, told me he gave the grand coalition just two years. "The parties don't like each other really, people in both parties are not able to work together," he said. But Michael Fuchs of the CDU warned against underestimating Mrs. Merkel. "She is a new Mrs. Thatcher, just with a smaller handbag."

SOURCES :

BBC news

The British Broadcasting Company, as the BBC was originally called, was formed in October 1922 by a group of leading wireless manufacturers including the great radio pioneer, Guglielmo Marconi. Daily broadcasting by the BBC began from Marconi's London studio on November 14. This was followed the next day by broadcasts from Birmingham and Manchester, and over the following months the transmitter network spread across the UK. Wireless quickly caught on as a medium of mass communication. By 1925 the BBC could be heard throughout most of the UK .

The arrival of digital technology and the Internet during the 1990's marked a new era in broadcasting. For the viewer, digital television offered more channels and wider interactivity; for the listener, digital radio provided CD-quality sound and flexibility of service. BBC Online, an Internet service which did not exist at the beginning of the 90s, was one of the leading websites in Europe by the end of 1999.

New York Times

It is on September 21st 1851 that Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones published the first issue of the New York Daily Times. This paper, which was in competition with the New York Herald, finally became the most important newspaper of the New York area and maybe on all the East Coast of the United States.

Today, it is one of the most important, if not the most, of US papers and has diversified its activities with a lot of complementary issues, like the New York Times Style Magazine or the Travel Section.

THE ARTICLES :

· First article from BBC news : “Merkel named as German chancellor”

Angela Merkel is to become Germany's first woman chancellor under a deal agreed between her Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Social Democrats (SPD).

Mrs Merkel confirmed the deal at a news conference and said a CDU-SPD "grand coalition" would have to create jobs and push through economic reforms.

Under the deal, the SPD will take eight ministerial posts, against a reported six for the CDU and their CSU allies.

It is unclear whether opponent Gerhard Schroeder will be in the coalition.

Both the former Chancellor Mr Schroeder and Mrs Merkel had laid claim to the chancellery after a tight election on 18 September.

The "grand coalition" deal must still be approved by both parties and parliament.

· Second article from New York Times : “Merkel : Germany's new leader”

German conservative leader Angela Merkel will become the country's first woman chancellor under an agreement struck with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats, senior sources from the leading parties said last night.

Under the deal, the SPD is poised to get the Foreign, Finance, Justice and Labour ministries in a new coalition Government with Merkel's Christian Democrats, a senior SPD source said.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who has ruled since 1998, is set to relinquish his grip on power and end three weeks of deadlock since last month's elections.

Schroeder and Franz Muentefering, the SPD chairman, was to meet Merkel and her ally, Christian Social Union leader Edmund Stoiber, for a third and probably final time late last night.

The four left a second round of discussions earlier without saying a word.

The wrangling between the main forces on the left and right comes after a general election gave neither the conservatives nor the SPD enough votes to rule with their preferred partners.

The SPD, despite winning four fewer seats in Parliament than the conservatives, had refused to relinquish its hold on the Chancellery.

Schroeder's party is expected to extract key concessions from Merkel on economic policy, resulting in a dilution of the reform agenda she pushed during the election campaign. The leaders are expected to consult their parties today.

A deal over who leads Germany would open the door to detailed coalition talks following the most inconclusive election result in postwar German history.

The talks to forge a power-sharing coalition of the country's two largest parties, dubbed a "grand coalition", are likely to extend to November. It would be only the second coalition of the top two parties since World War II.

ANALYSIS ABOUT THIS TWO ARTICLES :

Merkel is the new leader of Germany .The country's first female prime minister, ready to assume control after Schroeder ended the power struggle. Angela Merkel, a shy pastor's daughter from the former Communist East, will become the first woman to head the German government after her defeated rival, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, agreed to abandon his three-week post-election power struggle.
But Merkel, 51, will be unable to live up to her reputation as Germany's Margaret Thatcher.

The price for becoming chancellor in a "grand coalition" will be an evenly divided cabinet, with Schroeder's center-left Social Democrats controlling eight ministries, equal to the number controlled by Merkel's Christian Democrats.
The magazine Stern said the strong center-left presence in her cabinet had given Merkel a "red corset."
Schroeder, 61, had insisted on remaining in office after Merkel failed to win the landslide victory all opinion polls had predicted.
Her conservatives won just one percentage point more than his party, prompting Schroeder to claim he had a moral authority to lead a shared government. That claim outraged many in Germany where political tradition states that the leader of the biggest party becomes chancellor.

Growing public criticism of his refusal to concede defeat forced him to retreat, and he told party members yesterday he did not plan to remain in a Merkel-led government. "That's not part of my life planning," said Schroeder, who has made no public appearances since he agreed to bow out in talks on Sunday night.
Franz Spaeth, a tourist from Stuttgart on vacation in Berlin, said: "I object to Schroeder's vanity. It was time for him to leave."
Schroeder's decision ended an unprecedented period of political gridlock in Germany that had worried its European partners, who had been hoping for a strong government to revive the flagging economy and boost growth across the continent.
The election had highlighted stark differences in character between Schroeder, a jovial, media-savvy political opportunist, and Merkel, who often appears uncomfortable in the public eye and was widely criticized in her party for waging a dull campaign.
Her shyness was in evidence again yesterday. Asked by reporters how it felt to become leader, she gave a coy smile before reverting to her customary formality. "Firstly, I feel good. Secondly, we have a lot of work to do . . . I am in a state of excited alertness," she said.
Schroeder's long goodbye ended his seven-year rule, during which he narrowly won a second term in 2002 by attacking the U.S.-led war in Iraq. But his failure to cut mass unemployment and his program of unpopular welfare cuts sapped support for his party and prompted him to call the election a year early.
He will take part in the coalition talks in coming weeks. What he does after that has been a matter of speculation. He has said he looked forward to spending more time with his family in the northern city of Hanover, where he lives with his fourth wife, Doris, her daughter, Klara, their adopted Russian daughter, Viktoria, and dog and cat. He may start writing his memoirs.
Merkel, a trained physicist who entered politics only 15 years ago after the fall of the Berlin Wall and will be Germany's youngest chancellor, will now hold talks to form the first "grand coalition" to rule Germany for almost four decades.
Dietmar Herz, political analyst at Erfurt University, said Merkel faces a tough time in government. "For Merkel personally, this is a double-edged sword. She faces a very powerful [Social Democratic Party] and she's not undisputed in her party after the poor election result.
"I think the coalition has the chance to survive the full four-year term, but I have doubts whether it will be able to effect much change in that time. Basically, the politics will be exactly the same as they were under Schroeder."
Merkel showed resilience and shrewdness in rising through the ranks of the western, Catholic, male-dominated Christian Democrat Union, and became party leader in 2000 at a time when the party was in the throes of a funding scandal.
Yet she has never managed to establish full control of the party, where many, especially the powerful regional premiers, view her with envy and suspicion.

PERSONAL STATEMENT :

The German Social Democrat Party and the Christian Social Union have reached a settlement declaring Angela Merkel the new Chancellor of Germany.

She will lead a wide coalition government in the country. Gerhard Schroeder finally agreed to a coalition under his rival's leadership, after narrow-margin had elections left the country in a deadlock for weeks.

Schroeder, himself, broke the news that he is resigning from politics.