"Coalition of New Possibilities" (November 30, 2005)

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Let us release the brakes that are holding back growth! Let us free ourselves from bureaucracy and outdated regulations. Many of our European neighbors are showing us what is possible. Germany can do what other countries can do; I am deeply convinced of that.

The last government already introduced steps to help us make the most of the opportunities our country offers. Therefore, leaving all partisan differences aside – and these differences could not be overlooked in the past years – I wish to say the following: I would like to personally thank Federal Chancellor Schröder for his courage and steadfastness in opening a door with Agenda 2010, a door to reform, and for implementing the Agenda in the face of resistance.

In doing so, he did our country a great service. I would like to thank him for this, and other achievements, in the name of all Germans.

I said earlier that I don't intend to mention each group separately, simply to avoid anyone saying at the end that I had forgotten somebody. However, one group is so important that it has to be mentioned. This group will play a key role in all future issues. I am referring to the weak. I am referring to the weak, to those who need the solidarity and the help of all of us. I am referring to the sick, the young, and to the many old. The measure of our society's humanity is how we treat these people.

We – the new Federal Government of the CDU/CSU and the SPD – want to make our country fit for the future so that the weak can remain confident that they will not be left to fend for themselves, that they will receive help. That is our understanding of social justice.

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Source of English translation: Policy Statement by Chancellor Angela Merkel, 4th session of the German Bundestag, November 30, 2005, Bulletin, no. 93-1, November 30, 2005 [CD-ROM]; in English: www.bundesregierung.de. Please note: the GHDI staff has made slight edits to this translation.

Source of original German speech: Regierungserklärung der Bundeskanzlerin, 4. Sitzung des Deutschen Bundestages am 30. November 2005, Bulletin [Presse- und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung], Nr. 93-1 vom 30. November 2005 [CD-Rom].