The chancellor gets his deal
Getting his tax reforms through Germany’s second chamber of parliament was a triumph for the chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, and good for Germany
IT WAS, said Gerhard Schröder, “a good day for Germany and a good day for Germany's image in the world.” It was also, he might have added, a very good day for the Social Democratic chancellor. For it was against nearly all expectations that on July 14th his government managed to ram through the Bundesrat, parliament's opposition-controlled second chamber, a bundle of tax reforms that may be Germany's most radical since the second world war. It was a personal triumph for Mr Schröder, just as it was a black day for the Christian Democrats and their new leader, Angela Merkel.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “The chancellor gets his deal”
From the July 22nd 2000 edition
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