Before 1989, all roads led to a Wall that was only a few yards away from this place and that looked as though it would divide our country forever. When you have already experienced one positive surprise of this sort, you believe many things are possible. I intend to remain firm in that belief.
I have christened the new coalition "a coalition of new possibilities." My hope is that it will open up new possibilities for our country, and for all Germans. And I hope that we will seize this opportunity. Specifically, this means for me that the expectations the new Federal Government has of itself and the country are by no means modest. We intend to create the conditions for Germany to return to the ranks of the top three in Europe in ten years. I feel this is a legitimate and important expectation.
The Basic Law, the Social Market Economy, the dual system of vocational training – all these ideas were an inspiration for the whole world. The first car was built in Germany, the first computer, too, and aspirin was developed here. We are still benefiting from these innovations today. Why shouldn't we in the present day be able to recapture the sense of achievement we had in the founding years of the Federal Republic and usher – what I call – a second founding era?
Let us, then, surprise everyone with what we can do in this country!
A grand coalition between two different mainstream parties provides us with an entirely unexpected opportunity to ask ourselves what we can improve together, without being hampered by mutual accusations, without pointing a finger at the other side and asking who was responsible – solely responsible, of course! – for what mistake. For one thing is clear: whether we admit it or not, we all bear responsibility for the fact that we are still not taking full advantage of the potential of our country. Our growth has been stagnating for several years. Debt has shot up to worrying levels. The catching-up process in the new federal states [Länder] has been at a standstill for years. Without its car industry, Germany today would no longer be the kind of high-tech country that I would like it to be. PISA shows that in many instances we can no longer simply call ourselves a nation with a high educational standard. We have not yet come to terms with the rapid transformation of the working world. Germany is not yet sufficiently prepared to meet the needs of an aging society. We have not yet found satisfactory responses to the new type of threats we face and to the blurring of the distinction between internal and external security.
We are all aware of the problems, and I can say: The grand coalition has made an honest assessment of the situation in our country, and together we have also recognized the chance, the opportunity to better exploit our nation's potential. Why shouldn't we all surprise each other with what this country is capable of achieving?
We know that we have a long, uphill battle to fight. We want to restructure the federal system. We want to inject new life into the labor market. We want to help our schools and universities regain their top position. We want to get our debt under control and sort out our health, pension, and long-term care systems. Nobody can stop us – with the exception of ourselves. Let us dispense with the well-rehearsed rituals, the reflexive howls of protest, if we want to change anything. Surely it ought to be possible for us to leave all that behind and pursue new paths.
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