GERMANY: Months of political deadlock have been brought to an end with the swearing-in of Germany's new chancellor, writes Derek Scally
Christian Democrat (CDU) leader Angela Merkel made history yesterday as the first woman and the first former East German to be sworn in as Chancellor of Germany.
Some 397 of the new Bundestag's 612 MPs voted for Dr Merkel in the secret ballot - 64 per cent - but 202 voted against, including about 50 government MPs.
After six months of political limbo, rivals in the CDU and the Social Democrats (SPD) buried the political hatchet and voted Dr Merkel into office - and with her the second grand coalition in Germany's post-war history.
"I think we have all felt in the last days the huge expectations people have that problems are solved and decisions are made. We will have a lot to do in the next years," said Chancellor Merkel after swearing her oath of office and promising to use her power "for the good of the German people".
With her father, a Lutheran pastor, watching from the Bundestag's visitors' gallery, she added "so help me God", the optional ending forgone by her predecessor.
The swearing-in ceremony was so entirely without pomp that a nearby journalist in the press gallery complained: "She might as well be buying a train ticket."
The informal formalities - the vote on the chancellorship, Dr Merkel's swearing-in and the swearing-in of her ministers - involved three return trips from the Reichstag to the official residence of President Horst Köhler.
"The grand coalition reflects the will of the people. Germans know that changes are necessary to preserve the good of what we have built up," said President Köhler, urging the new government to pursue "sustainable politics" and "long-term solutions".
He added: "When we see the road we have travelled since 1945, we recognise the strength inside us. We have good reason to be proud of Germany."
Dr Merkel, dressed in a simple black trouser-suit with a black velvet collar, seemed occasionally overwhelmed by the events. Only when she finally settled into the chancellor's chair at the government bench, with her ministers beside her, did she allow herself a satisfied grin.
The view of her head from the press gallery made plain that Chancellor Merkel has had little time in the last weeks of coalition negotiations to touch up her roots, but hopefully she will resist taking the issue of her hair colour to court, as Gerhard Schröder once notoriously did.
"I congratulate you and wish you success in your work for our country. I think that is something that unites us all," said Mr Schröder yesterday evening as he handed over the keys of the chancellery to Dr Merkel, who returned the compliment.
"I would like to thank you for what you did for our country. With your reform agenda and much more, you set milestones from where we will carry on," said Dr Merkel.
"You can rest assured I will deal responsibly with what you did here as chancellor, which people will fondly remember," she added.
The SPD's Franz-Walter Steinmeier, the new foreign minister and former chancellery minister to Mr Schröder, promised continuity in foreign policy.
"We don't have to assume that this is a new beginning," he told The Irish Times.
Chancellor Merkel will visit Paris this morning, followed by London and Warsaw.
Mr Steinmeier will visit The Hague, Rome and Madrid this week. Against a background of political differences over Iraq, he said that he hopes to visit the United States before Christmas, adding: "I don't have the impression that people there are working on policy outlines that would pose unreasonable demands for Germany."
Germans will have to get used to referring to Dr Merkel with the female form of chancellor - kanzlerin instead of kanzler.
A government spokesman confirmed last night that the chancellery remains the kanzleramt and not the kanzlerinamt.
Dr Merkel held her first cabinet meeting and moved into her office yesterday evening, replacing Mr Schröder's desk photos of wife Doris and the dead father he never knew with a portrait of Catherine the Great.
After her swearing-in she had a small celebration with her family.
Her mother, Herlind, is an SPD voter, but she admitted baking special biscuits for the occasion in three forms: C, D and U.
"I feel wonderful. I always knew Angela would go on to great things ever since she was 12," she said.
"Someone in her maths class was bothering her, so she gave them a slap in the face."