Merkel to Lead Under German Coalition Deal
Conservative leader Angela Merkel will become Germany's first woman chancellor under a deal that sees Gerhard Schröder step aside but gives his Social Democrats top posts in a new government, sources said on Monday. Three weeks after voters gave Merkel's conservatives an unexpectedly narrow win over Schröder's SPD in a federal election, sources from both parties said an agreement had been struck that would set the stage for a power-sharing cabinet and break Germany's political deadlock. According to a senior SPD source, the SPD is poised to get the foreign, finance, justice and labor ministries in a new government led by the 51-year-old Merkel, a pastor's daughter who grew up in the former communist east.That would give Schröder's party a key role in shaping budget and labor market policy, as well as influence over foreign policy. Merkel's Christian Democrats and their Christian Social Union allies would get the economy, interior and defense portfolios. Current Economy Minister Wolfgang Clement said CSU chief and Bavarian state premier Edmund Stoiber would replace him in the post, leaving Merkel's CDU with very few major ministries.
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