BERLIN (MNI) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday that she
sees no fiscal leeway for tax cuts in the coming two years, adding that
the loss of the government’s majority in the upper house of parliament
also makes more tax relief unlikely.
“It has to be clear that at best we can proceed with a
simplification of the tax system [in 2011 and 2012] so that we can
concentrate on what will require all our force, namely the
consolidation” of the budget, Merkel said at a press conference here.
“The changed majorities in the Bundesrat do not make the chance of
tax cuts more likely,” the Chancellor added.
Merkel’s CDU/CSU-FDP federal government coalition was defeated in
Sunday’s state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, losing in the
process its majority in the upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat,
representing the 16 states.
While Merkel acknowledged that tensions in the federal government
coalition were partly to blame for the defeat in North Rhine-Westphalia,
the chancellor still stressed she sees no need to reshuffle her cabinet.
Merkel said there was a chance to win back the Bundesrat majority
next March in the elections in Rhineland-Palatinate, where the
opposition SPD currently governs.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com
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