German voters on side of Merkel
TEXT OF INTERVIEW
Steve Chiotakis: The business community in Germany is applauding the voters’ decision to keep Chancellor Angela Merkel. And there’s a new coalition that’ll take the German parliament a little farther to the right. Let’s get the latest from Marketplace’s European Correspondent Stephen Beard with us live from London. Hi, Stephen.
Stephen Beard: Hello, Steve.
Chiotakis: So we see the dacs is much higher. What’s accounting for all that?
Beard: Shares in companies involved in the nuclear industry in particular have been rising strongly this morning because the new coalition will be pro-nuclear. It’s expected to slow down and perhaps reverse the phase-out of nuclear power in Germany.
Chiotakis: What is this new coalition party, Stephen, the Free Democrats, and how does it change the game there?
Beard: It’s a party which is far more in tune with Merkel’s own philosophy. It’s pro-business, market-oriented and in favor of tax cuts and slimming down government bureaucracy. So Germany’s going to have a pro-business government committed to economic reform.
Chiotakis: And are those reforms really going to happen with all of that in the Bundestag?
Beard: Not in the short-term it seems, because Angela Merkel is a very cautious and careful politician, but also she’s restrained. I mean she’s got a very big deficit, what with all these stimulus packages, so big tax cuts are not going to happen any time soon. And the recovery is very fragile, so there’s a big question about how the economy will perform as the very stimulus packages come to an end. So this not really the ideal environment in which to start bringing in big economic reform.
Chiotakis: We shall see. All right, Marketplace’s Stephen Beard joining us from Europe, from London. Stephen, thanks.
Beard: OK, Steve.
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