Ministry Distribution in German Coalition Pact
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Germany’s conservatives (CDU/CSU) and Social Democrats (SPD) have agreed which party will take charge of which ministry in their coalition government. However, with only two exceptions, they have not yet specified the ministers themselves. Following is a summary of their agreement on ministries, according to sources from both parties, together with brief portraits of likely candidates for key ministries. KEY MINISTRIES: CHANCELLERY - CDU ANGELA MERKEL, leader of the Christian Democrats (CDU), will become Germany’s first woman chancellor. The daughter of a Protestant pastor, she grew up in communist East Germany. She served as a cabinet minister under Helmut Kohl but came to wider prominence when she took charge of cleaning up a party funding scandal dating from Kohl’s rule. The CDU will also take the post of CHANCELLERY MINISTER, a cabinet-level post responsible for coordinating government work. One of the SPD’s ministers will also double as a VICE CHANCELLOR. Some commentators have suggested outgoing Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder could become foreign minister and vice chancellor but Schroeder is reported to have told the SPD he will not be in the government. MINISTRY FOR ECONOMY AND TECHNOLOGY - CSU EDMUND STOIBER has confirmed he will take this post. Bavarian premier since 1993 and head of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the sister party of Merkel’s Christian Democrats since 1999. Stoiber, 64, mounted an unsuccessful challenge to Schroeder in 2002. FOREIGN MINISTRY - SPD No decisions taken. Outgoing Interior Minister OTTO SCHILY has been mentioned in media reports as a possible candidate. He pushed through tighter security laws after the Sept. 11 attacks, in which three of the suicide pilots were Arab students based in Hamburg. Schily, 73, is also respected by the United States, where during a visit in February he was invited to meet President George W. Bush at the start of Bush’s second term. Outgoing Defence Minister PETER STRUCK has also been tipped as a possible foreign minister, although he suffered a slight stroke in June 2004 Source : washingtonpost.co |