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Germany (12) -- News -- 2010
The regional elections - first test for Merkel after September, 27
21.03.2010
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned against the likelihood of a leftwing coalition winning Germany's most populous state and the implication
this would have on national politics.
Elections for North Rhine-Westphalia are scheduled for May 9. The ruling coalition could lose to a far-left combination of Social Democrats (SPD), Greens and the Left party.
North Rhine-Westphalia is currently governed by a coalition of Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) - the same combination as the national government in Berlin.
The regional election is Merkel's first electoral test since her center-right coalition took office at the national election.
Polls show voters are dissatisfied with the constant bickering within the center-right coalition government on a range of issues from fiscal policy,
health reforms and nuclear power.
"The largest state must be governed soundly, as it can't be the location for 'experiments' with uncertain conclusions,"
Merkel told a CDU party convention in the western city of Muenster.
"Class struggle is yesterday's thing," Merkel said. "Class struggle is not what will take us forward," she added, in reference to the Left party's Marxist
rhetoric. In parts the Left party is a successor to the communist party of East Germany.
The election outcome could affect the CDU's majority in the Bundesrat, the German upper house of parliament, where North Rhine-Westphalia's 13.5 million
voters could tip the balance of power if they voted the CDU out of office.
Germany (12) -- Analyses -- 2010
Opel and Volkswagen - two case studies
11.03.2010
The decision of General Motors taken on November 3, to abandone the sale of its Opel automotive unit to a group led by Canadian auto supplier Magna
and to keep the business was a
setback for German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Germany’s government had lobbied hard for the Magna deal and officials said it wanted GM to repay 1.5 billion euros
(US$2.2 billion) in bridge financing extended by German state banks. “The government regrets the decision of the General Motors board to restructure Opel itself and to
keep it in the group,” said Ulrich Wilhelm, a government spokesman.
Opel asked for as much as 1.3 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in loan guarantees from Germany as part of a total request of almost 2 billion euros from several
European governments, said Stefan Weinmann, a spokesman for the GM unit. The U.K. has granted loan guarantees valued at 300 million euros, he said.
“The European Union has specifically set up a framework whereby individual countries are able to support companies that have gotten into economic distress,”
Weinmann said. “We’re not asking for special treatment. We’re asking for the guarantees made available for this very purpose.”
European governments provided 9 billion euros in loan guarantees to automakers last year, with none of that going to Opel, Weinmann said.
At the same time, in November, for the first time, Volkswagen which is based in Wolfsburg built more cars than its Japanese rival Toyota. Toyota still sells more each year, but VW has closed
the gap to less than 1.5 million cars.
Volkswagen's share of the passenger-car market worldwide rose to 11.3%, mostly as a result of the strong growth recorded by its Chinese joint ventures.
Volkswagen's brands include Volkswagen, Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Seat, Skoda, and Scania.
Under its 2018 strategy, Volkswagen aims to increase the number of vehicles sold to around 8 million in the medium term and to more than 10 million by 2018.
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