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Key Merkel coalition member lashes out at Steinbrueck
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 11 - 12 - 2008


Tensions grew Thursday within German Chancellor
Angela Merkel's ruling coalition over plans to spur growth in
Europe's biggest economy in the face of the global economic slowdown, according to dpa.
A leading member of Merkel's conservative bloc roundly lashed out
at German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck over his criticism of
Britain's attempt to limit the fallout from the economic downturn by
boosting public spending.
But said Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, the secretary general of the
Bavarian-based Christian Social Union (CSU): "It is obvious that the
finance minister missed out on going to the diplomatic nursery."
In an outspoken interview with US magazine Newsweek, Steinbrueck
said Britain's conversion from economic and financial prudence to
heavy state borrowing was of "breathtaking" proportions.
Guttenberg told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa: "Steinbrueck wanted to
use these remarks to distract attention away from his own failures."
The CSU secretary general said Steinbrueck should "perhaps be
given a basic course in diplomacy from Foreign Minister Frank-Walter
Steinmeier."
Merkel's grand coalition government has introduced a fiscal
stimulus package including measures totalling up to 32 billion euros
(42.5 billion dollars).
But both Merkel and Steinbrueck, who is a member of the Social
Democrats, have resisted calls for the government to unveil more
steps to help Germany through the current downturn.
This includes the CSU insisting that Merkel's coalition government
should cut taxes to help boost economic growth.
However, in his remarks Steinbrueck in particular criticized the
British Labour Government's move to reduce value added tax (VAT) by
2.5-per-cent to 15 per cent.
"All this will do is raise Britain's debt to a level that will
take a whole generation to work off," Steinbrueck said, echoing
criticism levelled at Brown by the Conservative opposition in Britain.


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