The CDU has always had the strength to implement difficult decisions, even in the face of great resistance. And, in the end, it has also profited from this as a party.
It was the Union that set the decisive milestones in the history of our country.
We realize that, yes, we started reforming too late and too hesitantly in the 1990s, but the SPD hadn’t even seen the sign of the times at that point. The SPD has always liked to see itself as society’s avant-garde. But, in reality, it has all too often been the rearguard!
And, dear friends, I don’t mind if it stays that way!
[ . . . ]
Source: Angela Merkel, “Rede der Vorsitzenden der CDU Deutschlands auf dem 20. Parteitag am 27. November 2006 in Dresden” [“Speech by the Chair of the German CDU, Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel, at the 20th Party Congress on November 27, 2006, in Dresden”]. www.politikerscreen.de/index.php/Common/Document/field/document/id/50757 (retrieved February 25, 2008).
Translation: Allison Brown and GHDI staff
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