Is German coalition at risk ?

"No matter how much we can understand the grave personal motives given by the Chancellor's deputy Franz Müntefering, the moment chosen to announce his resignation from Angela Merkel's government smacks of an avowal of failure and the end of the Schröder era", explains Yves Petignat "The 'General Münte', last of the red-green coalition's old guard, is leaving the day after an agreement was struck between conservatives and social democrats extending the duration of unemployment benefit given to over 58 year olds from one to two years. This measure was opposed by the Deputy Chancellor and the Minister of Employment who perceive it as the beginning of the dismantlement of social reforms, the same reforms which forced Gerhard Schröder to sacrifice the end of his mandate, but allowed the reflation of Germany's economy."

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