German Election Post-Mortem (cont.)

... On Sunday, September 18, Germany's Social Democratic Party and Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder will face the conservative CDU/CSU frontrunner Angela Merkl, with opinion polls showing the gap narrowing. The latest grim unemployment figures put Germany's jobless total at above five million but with a slight rise in the growth rate of the economy. Conservatives have put the sensitive topic of a flat 25% income tax on the political agenda, and Chancellor Schroeder has excluded himself from any grand coalition, should one emerge.

Germany's social insurance system — indeed its entire socio-economic model calls for an overhaul, but this is a hot potato in the election campaign. Should Merkl win, what will happen to the Greens? Will she reduce tensions with the United States? And what will Joschka Fischer — still the most popular politician in Germany — do next? Panelists will discuss these issues and more, as they assess the election outcome and Germany's future.

— Beverly Crawford