Germany´s Merkel hails ‘robust’ German recovery

`Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has praised the “really robust” recovery of the German economy, and the “small miracle” of declining unemployment across the country, but warned that there was still no room for manoeuvre for tax cuts in the foreseeable future.

In a staunch defence of her government’s policies, against the background of plummeting popularity in the latest opinion polls, she insisted that strict spending cuts were essential to restore a balanced budget, and that the coming year would still prove “very difficult”.

Speaking at an annual press conference on Wednesday to mark the end of the parliamentary session, Ms Merkel dismissed the latest opinion polls showing the three parties in her ruling centre-right coalition – her own Christian Democratic Union, the Bavaria-based Christian Social Union and the liberal Free Democratic party – with a record low level of support.

“I think the coalition has really pulled itself together,” she said, although she admitted that the level of public disagreement between the partners in the past had been “unacceptable”. She could not promise there would be no arguments in the future, but said such disputes would at least be on important matters of policy.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0b015848-94c4-11df-b90e-00144feab49a.html

 

Merkel's popularity is plummeting. It's no coincidence she is suddenly starting to trumpet how good her government is doing.