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Gerhard Schroeder under fire after blaming Georgia for 'detonating' war with Russia Germany's former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has been told he should "keep his mouth shut" after appearing to support Russia's invasion of Georgia. By Tony Paterson in Berlin Last Updated: 11:54PM BST 23 Aug 2008 The 64-year-old Social Democrat already has a reputation as a Kremlin apologist and was widely criticised for taking a £200,000 a year job with the Russian energy company Gazprom after he left office in 2005. Not only is he friends with the Russian premier and former president Vladimir Putin - whom he has referred...

Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has criticized Georgia for the war over South Ossetia, calling Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili a gambler, and warning against allowing the country to join NATO. In an interview with Der Spiegel magazine due out on Monday, Schröder said he thought Georgia’s chances of joining the transatlantic alliance had moved “even further into the distance,” following the fighting with Russian forces. Schröder’s comments are sure to be scrutinized due to his close personal and political friendship with former president and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, as well as his acceptance of a Gazprom job immediately after leaving...

Age of the Universeby Dr. Gerald Schroeder According to a possible reading of ancient commentators' description of God and nature, the world may be simultaneously young and old. One of the most obvious perceived contradictions between Torah and science is the age of the universe. Is it billions of years old, like scientific data, or is it thousands of years, like Biblical data? When we add up the generations of the Bible, we come to 5700-plus years. Whereas, data from the Hubbell telescope or from the land based telescopes in Hawaii, indicate the age at about 15 billion years.Let...

I hope that the EU countries that made too early decision on recognition of Kosovo shall realize their responsibility for leaving pro-European forces in Serbia in the lurch’, former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder says for ‘Blic’. ‘That is why I hope that until April 28 they, especially the Netherlands, shall realize how important it is that the stabilization and association agreement (SAA) is signed and that the first step towards suspension of visa regime for the citizens of Serbia is made’, he adds.Schroeder, who visited Belgrade on the occasion of the 175th anniversary of the Swiss media group ‘Ringier’, the...

Dutch lawmakers who recently visited the Guantanamo Bay military prison said they were offended by a testy exchange in Washington with a senior congressional Democrat. The lawmakers said that Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told them that "Europe was not as outraged by Auschwitz as by Guantanamo Bay." Lantos, a Holocaust survivor, was responding to arguments that the United States should shut down the prison, located on a U.S. naval base in Cuba, the lawmakers said. Mariko Peters, a member of the Dutch Green Party, who began the exchange with Lantos, said she took...

German ex-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has urged EU powers to stop backing Poland on trade and to counter US missile shield plans, or risk another unfriendly summit with Russia next month. Speaking to press at a book-launch in Moscow on Saturday (8 September), he described Poland's outstanding veto on a new EU-Russia treaty as "narrow-minded nationalism" and called the US missile scheme "politically dangerous." "For the good of Europe it's sometimes necessary to forget about the interests of individual [member] states," he said. Poland imposed the veto in late 2006 in reaction to a Russian ban on Polish meat exports. "It...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. plans to site parts of a missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic are "politically dangerous", former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said on Saturday. "From my point of view the missile defense system is politically dangerous. It is perceived as an attempt to isolate Russia, which is not in Europe's political interests," said Schroeder, who is a personal friend of President Vladimir Putin. "It is Germany's responsibility ... to persuade the United States to abandon these plans," he said at a round table discussion with political analysts and journalists. Schroeder, who formed his friendship...

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday she was pleased to hang Gerhard Schroeder at last -- even if it was only a portrait of her former rival. Merkel and her predecessor as chancellor traded light-hearted barbs at a ceremony in the chancellery in Berlin, where Schroeder was on his first visit since losing an acrimonious election to Merkel in 2005. Portraits of all postwar chancellors now hang there. "Visitors won't have to ask me any more: 'Why hasn't Schroeder been hung up?'" Merkel said. Schroeder then pointed to the space next to his portrait -- reserved...

Damascus, (SANA) – Former Chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schroeder received on Wednesday an honorary doctorate from the University of Damascus in honor of his positive stances towards Arab causes and his belief in dialogue between cultures, international cooperation and coexistence. On this occasion, Schroeder affirmed Syria's right to restore the occupied Golan by international law and according to Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, pointing out to the necessity of finding a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict and restoring rights. Schroeder called the international community to prioritize security and stability in the Middle East and maintain the unity of Iraq,...

A leading Democratic lawmaker lashed out at the former leaders of Germany and France, calling former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder a `political prostitute.' Germany denounced the remarks by Rep. Tom Lantos, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, as an insult to its people. Lantos' comments about Schroeder and former French President Jacques Chirac, both opponents of the Iraq war, came in a speech Tuesday at the dedication of a monument to victims of communism... "I am so glad that the era of Jacques Chirac and Chancellor Schroeder in Germany is now gone," Lantos said to applause. He said when...

Ex-Chancellor Schröder defends Putin in Helsinki Former German leader calls for continuity of Ostpolitik and construction of undersea pipeline Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is adhering to his claim from a few years aback, according to which Vladimir Putin is a good democrat. "I have not changed my characterisation of the Russian President, and I will not take my words back", Schröder said at a press conference in Helsinki on Monday. Schröder also refused to go retract a statement that had angered Estonia, according to which the removal of the Soviet-era statue of a soldier from the centre of Tallinn...

Germany's Schroeder slams U.S. missile shield plans Sun Mar 11, 2007 4:28PM GMT DRESDEN, Germany (Reuters) - U.S. plans to build a high-tech missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic are dangerous and absurd, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said on Sunday. "The missile defence system planned by the United States and which is to be installed in eastern Europe is politically extremely dangerous," Schroeder said in a speech in Dresden. "It is viewed, rightly, in Russia, and not only there, as an attempt to establish an absurd encirclement policy, a policy which is everything but in the interest...

Judge tosses suit against Jerry Brown Greg Lucas, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau Saturday, February 10, 2007 (02-10) 04:00 PST Sacramento -- A Superior Court judge tossed out a lawsuit Friday claiming Jerry Brown was not qualified to serve as state attorney general because he had not practiced law for all of the five years prior to his election in November. Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian rejected the lawsuit, saying that while Brown had chosen to let his membership in the State Bar of California be "inactive" from 1997 through April 2003, he was still eligible to practice law and had been...

THE war in Iraq is unlikely to be resolved by a US Administration committed to a fundamentalist Christian viewpoint, according to Gerhard Schröder, the former German Chancellor, whose newly published memoirs stoke his four-year feud with President Bush.Herr Schröder won a re-election campaign in 2002 by setting out German opposition to the invasion of Iraq. As a result, relations with Washington deteriorated and the two leaders barely spoke for three years. In extracts from his memoirs to be published in Der Spiegel magazine, Herr Schröder explains what went wrong and why it will be difficult for the President to make...

BERLIN - Ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, whose second term was marked by vehement opposition to the war in Iraq, described in an advance copy of his memoirs how he was suspicious of President Bush's constant references to his Christian faith. In an excerpt of his book, "Decisions: My Life in Politics" published in the German weekly Der Spiegel Saturday, Schroeder discusses the key political choices that marked his seven-year term in office, including the decision to call early elections and his split with Bush over the Iraq war. "I am anything but anti-American," Schroeder told Spiegel in an interview to accompany...

Germans want probe of 'Schrodergate' Big News Network.com Wednesday 26th April, 2006 (UPI) German lawmakers want an investigation of former chancellor Gerhard Schroder's possible favors for a Russian firm, which later hired him as a top executive. The Free Democrat Party has been most vocal in calling for a probe into whether the former head of the once-ruling Social Democrat Party used his position as head of state to help the Kremlin-controlled OAO Gazprom natural gas conglomerate get financing to build a Baltic Sea pipeline. The pipeline would ship Russian gas to Europe by skipping Poland and the Baltic states....

Berlin confirms report of Gazprom credit under Schroeder govt The German economy ministry has confirmed that the previous government of Gerhard Schroeder had guaranteed a credit of one billion euros (1.2 billion dollars) for the Russian group Gazprom's Baltic pipeline project. An inter-ministerial commission rushed through a "decision in principle" on October 24 last year while waiting for a new coalition to be formed by now Chancellor Angela Merkel, a spokesman for the economy minister said, confirming reports published Saturday in the Suddeutsche Zeitung (SZ). The report comes after Schroeder was voted in Thursday as head of the supervisory board...

Defiant Schroeder starts gas job Thursday, March 30, 2006; Posted: 8:07 a.m. EST (13:07 GMT) MOSCOW, Germany (Reuters) -- German ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder denied cashing in on his connections as he started a lucrative job on Thursday as head of a Russian-led gas pipeline project. Schroeder was elected to the 250,000 euros a year ($300,000) post of chairman of the shareholders' committee of the North European Gas Pipeline (NEGP) company at the panel's first meeting in Moscow. Critics say the Social Democrat acted with unseemly haste in accepting the job overseeing the $5 billion pipeline project, whose construction was sealed...

...Next week a parliamentary committee is expected to meet in secret session to investigate a report... that German secret agents in Baghdad provided the United States military with Saddam Hussein's plan for the defense of Baghdad.... Almost nobody here, from left to right, is saying what many Americans would say about Germany's providing intelligence help to the United States, namely, that it would be a very good thing if it proved to be true. Providing noncombat help in war to an ally, especially one as close as Germany has been to the United States, would seem to be normal behavior....

BERLIN - Few expected Angela Merkel to become so popular so fast when she became Germany's first female leader, taking over a country sunk in economic gloom after she barely won an election she was expected to sweep. But as Merkel marks her 100th day as chancellor Wednesday, signs of economic improvement are lifting the mood and sending her poll ratings soaring. The conservative leader has reassured Germans with promises of "small steps" to recovery — a break with talk of painful and far-reaching reforms that turned off voters during the election campaign. That typifies Merkel's pragmatic approach to her...

German spies handed Saddam Hussein's war plans to the Americans while their government was denouncing the planned attack, it was claimed yesterday. The documents were transferred as the coalition completed its invasion plans in February 2003. A month later, American and British forces entered Iraq. The claims, in yesterday's New York Times, were swiftly denied by German officials. The paper said that a classified American military document referred to Saddam and his aides meeting in late 2002 to radically amend Iraq's war plans. They had wanted an invading army slowed and deflected by Iraq's military en route to Baghdad. But...

For the first time on Monday, a relative of a victim of the September 11, 2001 attacks that were mostly carried out by Saudi nationals will speak in public in the kingdom. Sonia Tita Puopolo, is the daughter of Sonia Morales Puopolo, who was a passenger on American Airlines flight 11 that crashed into one of the towers of New York's World Trade Center.She is to speak during a session titled "Terrorism - The Human Toll" at the Jeddah Economic Forum starting in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah in the west of the ultra conservative kingdom on Saturday....

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, a fierce critic of the Bush administration, said Saturday that he's pulling for U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to win the White House. "I'd be very pleased if Hillary Clinton would become the next American president," Schroeder said to applause from a largely Saudi audience at the Jeddah Economic Forum, which opened here Saturday. "But don't quote me too loud. I hope I'm not harming her by saying that." Schroeder made the statement during a discussion of global women leaders at a gender-segregated theater where a plastic barrier separated women from men.

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, a fierce critic of the Bush administration, said Saturday that he's pulling for U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to win the White House. "I'd be very pleased if Hillary Clinton would become the next American president," Schroeder said to applause from a largely Saudi audience at the Jeddah Economic Forum, which opened here Saturday. "But don't quote me too loud. I hope I'm not harming her by saying that." Schroeder made the statement during a discussion of global women leaders at a gender-segregated theater where a plastic barrier separated women...

The European Union’s accounting branch has never approved a single budget: it just can’t find the paperwork. Jacques Chirac was bought off by Saddam Hussein’s Oil-for-Food scam, through his bagman Charles Pascal. High level corruption is pretty much the norm in major European countries. And now we see three simply amazing coincidences, one after the other: September, 2005 “Ten days ahead of Germany’s parliamentary elections, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Russian President Vladimir Putin attended on September 8 in Berlin the signing of a framework agreement to construct a gas pipeline from Russia directly to Germany along the Baltic seabed. The...

BERLIN - New German Chancellor Angela Merkel's flurry of trips underlines her break with predecessor Gerhard Schroeder's backslapping, personalized diplomacy, showing a more balanced approach that doesn't softpedal sore points. Merkel returned to Berlin from Moscow to good reviews Tuesday in the German and European press. One key element many noted was her effort to restore balance in the relationship with Russia and the United States. That meant not downplaying human rights with Moscow and getting ties back on track with Washington without ignoring European dismay over the treatment of terror suspects. Merkel's meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin on...

Chancellor Angela Merkel's first visit to Moscow as German leader has heralded a cooler, more businesslike approach to Russia compared with the unquestioning friendship displayed by her predecessor Gerhard Schröder. Gone are the days of public cuddling and sauna visits that have marked relations between Russian and German leaders since the fall of the Iron Curtain. Germany's new chancellor, Angela Merkel, signalled a decidedly no-nonsense approach during her inaugural visit to Moscow on Monday that reflected concern in Berlin about an excessive dependence on Russian gas and Russian human rights abuses. In a break with tradition that is unlikely to...

Chancellor Angela Merkel's first visit to Moscow as German leader has heralded a cooler, more businesslike approach to Russia compared with the unquestioning friendship displayed by her predecessor Gerhard Schröder. Gone are the days of public cuddling and sauna visits that have marked relations between Russian and German leaders since the fall of the Iron Curtain. Germany's new chancellor, Angela Merkel, signalled a decidedly no-nonsense approach during her inaugural visit to Moscow on Monday that reflected concern in Berlin about an excessive dependence on Russian gas and Russian human rights abuses. In a break with tradition that is unlikely to...

by Mark Finkelstein January 14, 2006 - 07:55 You know the Ted, Chuck & Joe Show flopped when even Chris Matthews accuses the Dems of "buffoonery" in the Alito hearings. Yet that is exactly what Matthews did in his appearance on this morning's Today show: "I don't think any points were scored by the Democrats, there was a lot of buffooney by Democratic senators. There was no coherent message, no coherent critique of the guy." For whatever reason, Matthews was on his most 'fair & balanced' behavior. For example, in discussing Pres. Bush's joint appearance with German Chancellor Angela Merkel...

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel will couple criticism of the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay with a vow to do more to help stabilize Iraq when she meets President George W. Bush on Friday, a senior German diplomat said. Deputy Foreign Minister Gernot Erler, in an interview with the German daily Passauer Neue Presse published on Thursday, said however that German aid to Iraq would remain limited to the training of security personnel and humanitarian relief. "Mrs Merkel will certainly speak in critical terms about Guantanamo when she is in Washington. She has signaled that herself," Erler said....

Schröder feels heat over Gazprom By Bronwen Maddox GERHARD SCHRÖDER has got off lightly so far for a breathtakingly disreputable choice of employer. Perhaps not for much longer, though, given the heat rising in Poland, the US and Germany’s own media. The former German Chancellor surely hoped that in taking up the post of chairman of an arm of Gazprom he could make the most of his friendship with Russia’s President Putin and indulge his warm pursuit of a German-Russian alliance, all in a low-key way. He won’t escape the spotlight now, for the worst of reasons. Less than a...

Russia's biggest natural gas company Gazprom has ambitious plans for the future, deputy chairman Alexander Medvedev tells BBC News in an interview. "We would like to transform our company from being the world's leading gas company into a world leading energy company," says Mr Medvedev, who is also Russia's deputy Prime Minister. Not only are the world's two largest energy markets - China and the US - on the radar of the state-controlled giant, which is 51% owned by the government. It also has firm ambitions to raise its presence in European energy markets, and it is preparing to expand...

OLD politicians never die, they just fade into boardrooms. The passage of Gerhard Schröder from public office accords with the dictum, except that he stubbornly refuses to fade. The former Chancellor of Germany took just a fortnight’s leave on quitting office before accepting his post at NorthEuropean Gas Pipeline, a company that will lay a pipe the length of the Baltic Sea. Barely enough time to do a round of after-dinner speeches, let alone write his memoirs, before he was appointed head of the supervisory board of Gazprom’s European venture. To make matters worse, Herr Schröder’s eager acceptance of a...

France, Germany and Russia. What a lovely place Europe would be without them. Throughout history they have constantly been bullying their neighbours. When the big ones team up, the little nations of continental Europe better beware or they will be gang raped, like Poland in 1939. This explains why it is imperative that Europe be Atlanticist. If it turns continental the three big ones will extort the little ones. The latest proof of this has just been provided in a new German-Russian deal that resembles the pact between Adolf Hitler and Joe Stalin to squeeze Eastern Europe. Apart from Adolf...

Gerhard Schroeder, who less than a month ago was Germany's chancellor, has agreed to become chairman of the company that is building a gas pipeline from Russia, across the Baltic Sea to Germany, and on through Western Europe. In many countries, Schroeder would now be charged with the crime of conflict of interest. His apparent ethical lapse is magnified by the fact that, at this very moment, Russia is threatening to cut off Ukraine's gas supplies if that country does not give in to the pricing demands of the Kremlin's state-owned gas behemoth, Gazprom. Russia's strategic task is obvious: cutting...

IT'S THE SORT of behavior we have -- sadly -- come to expect from some in Congress. But when Gerhard Schroeder, the former German chancellor, announced last week that he was going to work for Gazprom, the Russian energy behemoth, he catapulted himself into a different league. It's one thing for a legislator to resign his job, leave his committee chairmanship and go to work for a company over whose industry he once had jurisdiction. It's quite another thing when the chancellor of Germany -- one of the world's largest economies -- leaves his job and goes to work for...

Former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder landed a job Friday as board chairman for a Russian-German gas pipeline that he championed while in office, a post that deepens his already close relationship with the Russian government and President Vladimir Putin. At a groundbreaking ceremony about 250 miles north of Moscow, Alexei Miller, the chief executive of Gazprom, the Russian energy giant that holds a majority stake in the pipeline partnership, said the Schroeder-led board would be involved in "reaching all strategic decisions on all areas of the company's activity." In September, Schroeder and Putin signed an agreement on behalf of their...

Schroeder faces criticism over planned role at Russian gas consortium 23:26 2005-12-09 Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder faced criticism Friday over plans to take on a leading position at a consortium building a gas pipeline between Russia and Germany. As chancellor, Schroeder enjoyed a close personal and professional relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. But now critics question the ethics of him standing to gain personally from a major financial deal that he supported in his role as chancellor. "It stinks," said Reinhard Buetikofer, co-chairman of Germany's Greens, which had been the junior party in a coalition with Schroeder's Social...

<p>The former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder will be the chairman of the supervisory board of the pipeline-syndicate NEGP Company, said the boss of the Russian corporate group GAZPROM Alexej Miller during a celebration for the start of construction of the new pipeline through the Balic Sea in Babajewo.</p>

Schroeder takes over guidance job at Gazprom consortium Already in its term of office as chancellors Gerhard Schroeder was noticeable because of its good contacts to the Kremlin. Now he transfers a prominent role in the consortium, which builds the disputed Baltic Sea pipeline from Russia to Germany. Babajewo - the old Federal Chancellor becomes a supervisory board boss of the pipeline consortium NEGP company actively, said the boss of the Russian gas company Gazprom, Alexej Miller, today in Babajewo at the edge of the ceremony to the commencement of construction of the pipeline. It is to represent the interests...

The CIA in Europe Berlin's Silence for Washington By Matthias Gebauer in BerlinGerhard Schröder's government had detailed information on how the CIA operated in Europe -- and said nothing. The lower echelons of the administration even co-operated actively. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is likely to expect the same silent complicity from the new chancellor, Angela Merkel. DDP Planespotters, hobby airplane photographers, say they noticed an increase in the number of flights at the Frankfurt Airport between 2002 and 2004. In his heyday as leader of Germany, Gerhard Schröder was always ready to demonstrate indignation at how George W. Bush waged his war...

Germany may finally know the cast of politicians that is going to take over the reins of power, but chancellor-designate Angela Merkel has her work cut out for her. She is now surrounded by a motley crew of power hungry egos just waiting for her first mistake to pounce. To succeed, she'll have to be part lion tamer and part tight rope walker.

Germany's new government line-up began taking take shape as the Social Democrats said party chief Franz Muentefering would become the number two to incoming conservative chancellor Angela Merkel. Muentefering, a close ally of outgoing Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, would also hold the post of labour minister, senior party official Matthias Platzeck said Thursday. He confirmed that the key finance and foreign ministries, will respectively go to Peer Steinbrueck, a state premier, and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the current minister in the chancellory. The 49-year-old Steinmeier is also a close ally of Schroeder and a smooth political operator who has earned the respect even...

PARIS (AP) - A stoic atmosphere prevailed Friday at outgoing German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's farewell dinner with French President Jacques Chirac, one of his closest allies on issues ranging from Europe's future to the Iraq war. "Let's not be too sentimental or else we'll have to get out our handkerchiefs," Schroeder said before dinner at the Elysee Palace. Schroeder is to step down after Chancellor-designate Angela Merkel formally takes office. Every six weeks, Chirac and Schroeder have got together for informal dinners, harmonizing their policies. They hugged warmly as Schroeder got out of the car Friday. Through Chirac, "I have...

WASHINGTON - U.S. President George W. Bush telephoned outgoing German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder Thursday to thank him for his service and to offer his best wishes for the years ahead. "While the two leaders had differences at times on policy, the president said that he enjoyed working with Chancellor Schroeder," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "The president expressed his and Mrs. Bush's best wishes to Chancellor and Mrs. (Doris) Schroeder as he prepares to leave office." Schroeder steadfastly opposed Bush's decision to invade Iraq and helped rally other countries against the U.S. position at the U.N. Security Council. German...

<p>Gerhard Schröder, ousted German chancellor, continues to make life difficult for his successor. In his latest snub to Angela Merkel, he has decided to attend the European Union summit at Hampton Court, London on October 27.</p> <p>By representing Germany a mere three weeks before he is due to step down, Mr Schröder is proving less of a gentleman than Helmut Kohl, his predecessor.</p>

Schröder bows out with a dig at Blair and Bush By Kate Connollyin Berlin (Filed: 13/10/2005) Germany's outgoing chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, took swipes at Britain and America yesterday as he announced that he would not be part of the next government. In a speech to trade unionists in his home town of Hanover, he criticised Tony Blair over his vision for the future of the European Union. Gerhard Schröder yesterday "I say to my British friend that people in Germany, in Europe, do not want complete denationalisation," he said. "They want a state that is not in front of their...

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who has led Germany since 1998, said for the first time on Wednesday he would not play a role in the next government, in an emotional farewell including broadsides at the United States and Britain. "I will not be a part of the next government — definitely not be part of it," a tearful looking Schroeder told a rapt audience of union members in his home city of Hanover. He quickly composed himself, hitting his stride in a passionate defense of a strong German state and lashing out at "Anglo-Saxon" economic policies favoured in...

Angela Merkel's new coalition government will work toward stronger ties with the United States and scale back on the close relationship outgoing Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder had with Russian President Vladimir Putin, say officials from both parties in the future Cabinet. The officials say that foreign policy has not been a divisive issue in the coalition negotiations between Mrs. Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Mr. Schroeder's Social Democratic Party (SPD) since last month's inconclusive election. But even though they insist there will be no "major substantive change" under Mrs. Merkel's leadership, they say Berlin will correct Mr. Schroeder's excesses in...