Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Merkel's Re-Election Called Good for Russia | News | The Moscow Times

German Chancellor and leader of the Christian Democratic Union Angela Merkel celebrating her electoral victory on Monday, a day after the vote.
Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters
German Chancellor and leader of the Christian Democratic Union Angela Merkel celebrating her electoral victory on Monday, a day after the vote.
The victory of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative party in the country's general elections Sunday is expected to secure the stability of Russian-German relations for the next four years, despite German's recent criticism of human rights in Russia.

Taking 41.5 percent of the vote, Merkel's conservative bloc  consisting of Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) showed the best result since the German unification in 1990 and came close to an absolute majority in the parliament.

But Merkel, who is now settling in for a historic third term, will have to create a coalition government. Most observers say she will revive a coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD), who took second place with 26 percent of the votes.
Bilateral relations may improve in the German Chancellor’s third term.
Such a coalition would be beneficial for relations with Russia, analysts say.

"A coalition between the CDU/CSU and the Social Democrats would probably soften the tone toward the Russian government again. The CDU/CSU is split over the issues, while the SPD is traditionally in favor of the 'Schröder' approach," said Jens Siegert, who heads the Moscow office of the Boell Foundation, a Green Party-leaning think tank.


Read more: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/merkels-re-election-called-good-for-russia/486523.html#ixzz2fqMVjWcQ
The Moscow Times 




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