The surveyed express concern for employment

Navigation view, the regional barons bronca, States of soul of the coalition partner, falling a Minister after thirty-one days of Government: no State of grace for Angela Merkel at the beginning of second term, but rather a way of cross. To the extent that the German press begins to make the parallel with the first not - disastrous - Gerhard Schröder, in 1998.

The difficulties began as early as October 28, when the Bundestag extended Angela Merkel at the head of the country. It missed him 9 votes of his own camp. Deputies from of the East of the country, bitter to see any of their Government, have speculated the editorialists. Shortly after, it became apparent that the different components of the new conservative majority (Christian-Democrats of the CDU, CSU Social Christian, Liberals of the FDP) were clearly not the same reading of the coalition agreement. "Team building" seminar mid-November at the château de Meseberg has identified the most sharp stumbling stone.

First reform tax drastic desired by the Liberals. The new Minister of Finance (CDU), Wolfgang Schäuble, shower regularly their hopes of a system to three slices. Another subject that angry: health. The new Minister of health (FDP) defends beak and nail a decoupled income but health assessment system faces the social wing of Christian-Democrats. The CDU fears to scare the voters of the Land of Rhineland - North Rhine - Westphalia, who renew their regional Parliament in May. But this is not everything. Within the CDU, several Ministers-Presidents are headwind against the tax cuts expected to come into force on 1 January, because they significantly stretched own revenue of the Länder. The leaders of the Schleswig-Holstein, Saarland, Thuringia, threaten do not approve the Act of "acceleration of the economy", December 18, the Bundesrat, where the new majority has only a narrow margin.

If one adds to this cacophony very severe criticism of the Council of the wise men from the program announced by the cabinet, we understand that consumers take refuge in the wait. The household spending, which had well withstood the worst of the crisis and played a stabilizing role, declined by 0.9 in the third quarter from the previous. The GFK index, which measures consumer morale fell in November and October. The surveyed express concern for employment. In 2010 is the extension of the mechanism of partial unemployment benefits not a sign that the situation on the labour market will deteriorate

In this context already very loaded, the Chancellor had in addition to manage several embarrassing setbacks. General Motors has imposed a severe affront by choosing, finally, to keep Opel within rather than transfer a majority to the OEM Magna and its Russian banking ally, scenario favoured by Berlin for months.

Following the investigation into the bombing of September 4, near Kunduz in Afghanistan, the Minister of Social Affairs, in charge of the defence at the time, was forced to resign before the extent of its shortcomings. Weakening the same coup the new Defence Minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, rising star of the conservative camp.

A court in Hanover said potentially unconstitutional "solidarity tax" that have paid, almost every year since 1991, the Germans to finance reunification, on the ground that the tax had been presented initially as temporary. The file is forwarded to the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe. Finally, the Länder prosperous (Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Hesse) challenge again equalization mechanism that requires them to transfer several billion euros every year, towards the poorer Länder.

This is great for a single Chancellor, within five weeks. For comfort of his misadventures, cruelly highlighted by the press, Angela Merkel has however a few reasons for celebration: the celebration of twenty years of the fall of the Berlin wall, which put the spotlight of the world on the capital, or the November 11 ceremony under the Arc de triomphe Paris, which marks a significant warming of the Franco-German relations.

According to a growing number of economic forecasters, the economy could also bounce faster than estimates until here (1.2 growth planned for 2010 by the Government, 1.6 by the Council of elders). The public deficit should not remain stationed in some 3 of GDP this year. Finally, last but not least", the opposition, which had promised Chancellor a war of trenches in the Bundestag, seems far removed from the account. The SPD, but just to renew its staff, fell below the 20 of the vote...