Merkel Offers Her Election Manifesto

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/25/world/europe/merkel-offers-her-election-manifesto.html

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BERLIN — Angela Merkel’s governing conservative party hopes to return the chancellor to a third term in office by offering voters a generous mix of increased social benefits for mothers, a continued push to consolidate Germany’s budget and a vow not to raise taxes, and shrugging off criticism that its campaign promises amount to little more than bloated pandering.

Addressing some 600 representatives of her Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, on Monday, Ms. Merkel vowed that if returned to office, she would increase child subsidy, as well as retirement benefits for older mothers and lower-earning workers.

By borrowing liberally from an agenda more usually associated with its center-left Social Democrat rivals, the platform appeared aimed at voters on the fringes of Ms. Merkel’s party, which has suffered a string of losses at local and state levels in recent elections and is struggling to retain or gain popularity among urban Germans.

Building on her long-nurtured image as frugal, commonsense homemaker, the chancellor painted the 127-page election manifesto as a solid foundation for the country’s future — forgoing tax increases, but still chipping away at Germany’s outstanding debts, and ensuring that budget consolidation would remain a cornerstone of a “moderate and balanced” program. She urged voters to view the Sept. 22 election as a chance to set the country, Europe’s largest economy, on track for the future.

“It will be a day to decide where our country should be headed,” she said. “It will be about choosing whether Germany will remain successful under our leadership, or if things will go downhill.”

The plan drew criticism from Ms. Merkel’s junior partners in government, the Free Democrats, who insist that such expensive social programs can only be financed through an increased income for the state.

“Many of the conservatives’ proposals are not supported with concrete financing,” Patrick Döring, the general secretary of the Free Democrats said Monday, according to the German news agency DPA.

Conservative party leaders expect that income from taxes will rise to €700 billion, or $920 billion, in 2017, from €600 billion in 2012, which they say would fund their proposed plan, without raising taxes. They have released no estimate for their election pledges, but the mass circulation newspaper Bild projected that the increased child subsidy together with the pension increases could cost up to €15 billion a year.

The Finance Ministry has predicted Germany will have a balanced budget in 2014 and could even post a surplus.

Ms. Merkel has long had a problem with quieting the demands of the more conservative wing of her party, whose members also criticized the program as little more than empty promises.

“It’s tradition in this republic to make promises before an election that are then rationalized away in government and coalition negotiations,” Kurt Lauk, president of the Christian Democrats’ economic council, told the German broadcaster ARD. “Voters have known this for 50 years.”

Conservative leaders agreed Sunday on their manifesto, the last of the main parties to come up with their campaign platform, only three months before Germans go to the polls. They currently enjoy a comfortable lead with 41 percent, according to the latest survey by Emnid pollsters, released Sunday.

Their Social Democrat opponents lag behind with only 25 percent of the vote. Yet the conservatives’ lead may not be enough to ensure the continuation of the current government since the Free Democrats are struggling to make the 5 percent threshold needed for representation in Parliament.

By focusing so heavily on social benefits — additional funds for families, new investments in infrastructure, capping rising rents and a pension reform to increase savings for older mothers and lowest earners — the conservatives appear intent on winning swing voters from the Social Democrats, who have not ruled out raising taxes on higher earners. (The wealthiest Germans already pay up to 45 percent in income taxes.)

Horst Seehofer, head of the Christian Social Union, denounced the opposition’s calls for higher taxes as “irresponsible” at a time when the government is raking in record tax revenues. “For us, the middle class counts, for them, it pays,” Mr. Seehofer told delegates.

Speaking from a brightly colored stage at Berlin’s Opernwerkstätte, the usually reserved chancellor appeared clearly to be in election mode herself, waving her fists in the air as she defended her party’s platform.

More than once, Ms. Merkel had to pause to let the audience finish applauding. After her speech, she posed on stage with her cabinet ministers and other delegates, singing along as the national anthem played at the close.

Some experts also questioned whether the conservatives would be able to finance their campaign promises, while others pointed out that given their lead in the polls, and the immense popularity of their main candidate, the party program was of secondary importance.

“The election program for the conservatives is not so important, because they are heading into the election with the chancellor,” Richard Hilmer, who heads the Infratest dimap pollsters, told ARD. “Their program is called ‘Angela Merkel.”’