NationStates Jolt Archive

Schröder's Political Profile (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2242899.stm)
Long Wiki Article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Schr%C3%B6der)

Schröder has now finally left office, and Merkel is taking over. After seven years, the question begs to be asked: Was he a good or bad chancellor?

I'm particularly interested in the views of people not from Germany. With maybe a more neutral point of view on his party and career, do you think Germany has done well having him as Chancellor?

And in case you're wondering about the future Chancellor, Angela Merkel, here are two articles:
BBC - Plans for the Grand Coalition (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4438212.stm)
and
Spiegel - Merkel's Foreign Policy (http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,384910,00.html)

And if you do have an opinion, feel free to explain it...;)

Don't know enough about the man to judge...

...but I suppose if a German leader hasn't started any major wars or invaded Poland during his reign, he must be good, ja?

:D

*runs away*

At least from an economic standpoint, pretty bad. German unemployment rose to its highest levels since post-WWII (and former DDR unemployment was at almost 20%), GDP growth was stagnant, and inflation has been eating away at real wages almost continuously. Plus, he opposed cuts in the CAP subsidies which have resulted in a stalemate in free-trade talks.

Foreign/domestic policywise, I can't really say much.

At least from an economic standpoint, pretty bad.
One could argue that it wasn't really his fault though...he tried (late, but at least he did it, unlike Kohl) to implement the "Agenda 2010 (http://www.german-embassy.org.uk/agenda_2010__the_reform_packag.html)" and almost split his party with it.

...inflation has been eating away at real wages almost continuously...
Inflation?
At least since the Euro was introduced, it wasn't exactly his choice.

http://www.destatis.de/presse/englisch/pm2001/p2370041.htm

One could argue that it wasn't really his fault though...he tried (late, but at least he did it, unlike Kohl) to implement the "Agenda 2010 (http://www.german-embassy.org.uk/agenda_2010__the_reform_packag.html)" and almost split his party with it.

I like the idea; it does seem that he tried but was hampered in his attempt to reform. It's also true that many of the problems he had were inherited, so he was able to keep things stable even after the 2001 recession. It's hard to decide, really.

Bunp with an "m" instead of an "n".

One could argue that it wasn't really his fault though...he tried (late, but at least he did it, unlike Kohl) to implement the "Agenda 2010 (http://www.german-embassy.org.uk/agenda_2010__the_reform_packag.html)" and almost split his party with it.


Inflation?
At least since the Euro was introduced, it wasn't exactly his choice.

http://www.destatis.de/presse/englisch/pm2001/p2370041.htm
One could argue, though, that those failures and hamperings were signs that he wasn't a very effective leader. It depends, of course, how much you believe a leader can change the views of his party and his citizens.

his reforms were too little too late. he took office 1998 after important reforms had allready been delayed for years because of different majorities in the 2 chambers of parliament coining the term "reformstau". schroeder had promised reforms and he did have majorities in both chambers, but for the first years he just twiddled his thumbs and meanwhile he lost the majority in the second chamber. he had achieved basically nothing except for declaring an end to nuclear power in germany and heavy subsidies for wind power, which sent up the price for energy in germany sky high.
in his last term he tried some babystep reforms, but it just was not enough. he had the chance to turn the country around, but he squandered it.
his two terms were plagued by events he bears no fault for: the burst of the dotcombubble, the terror attacks, worldwide economic cooldown... but he could have set up germany in a better position to deal with the effects.

Inflation?
At least since the Euro was introduced, it wasn't exactly his choice.

http://www.destatis.de/presse/englisch/pm2001/p2370041.htm

You are absolutely correct. The ECB isn't able to raise their interest rates (they say they will, but probably won't since the Eurozone economy is overall too weak to take another rate hike), so inflation is growing because they simply aren't strong enough economically to control it. However, it reflects poorly on Schroeder because the decision was made to adopt the Euro without popular vote.

He was a decent pianist, and Lucy totally wanted him.

i arrived at the point where it didn't mattter no more to me whether he was good or bad. the only question i aksed was "is SHE better than him or not?". the last one was a NO!....so yeah.

You are absolutely correct. The ECB isn't able to raise their interest rates (they say they will, but probably won't since the Eurozone economy is overall too weak to take another rate hike), so inflation is growing because they simply aren't strong enough economically to control it. However, it reflects poorly on Schroeder because the decision was made to adopt the Euro without popular vote.
Actually, they just recently did increase the interest rate. And I'm absolutely okay with having the Euro.

Actually, they just recently did increase the interest rate. And I'm absolutely okay with having the Euro.

Well, it's been at 2% for 29 months. They might raise it in December, but they can't really do much beyond that. I like the Euro, but Germany is going to be increasingly penalized unless they can bring their economy/budget to the EU targets.

I liked his work on NYPD Blue, the wife said he pwned the show.

Economically Schröder undoubtedly didn´t do too well, but that´s a classic SocDem problem in Germany. His main "achievment" imo is that he moved his party from left to middle, Blair-style, thus starting an over-due discussion in Germany about what is left, right, etc, which imo will gain a load of momentum during the grand coalition now formed between the 2 major parties.