LOC18:29
15:29 GMT
BRUSSELS, Sept 23 (KUNA) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel's triumphant
victory in Sunday's general elections will be beneficial for the country's
ties with the European Union, two European analysts said on Monday.
"Merkel won not despite the euro crisis but because of the euro crisis,"
said Fabian Zuleeg, chief economist at the think tank European Policy Centre
(EPC) in Brussels.
"The results show the voters trusted her far more than any other political
leader. It was a personal victory for Merkel but also due to the euro crisis
in part," he added.
For his part, Janis Emmanouilidis, EPC Senior Policy Analyst, noted that
Merkel's conservative CDU-CSU bloc got 41.5 percent of the votes said it "is
an exceptionally good result."
"Voters trusted her to defend German interests. The EU was a key issue and
one of the main topics in this campaign," he said.
"We will see more continuity in German-EU ties than any revolutionary
tendency," said Janis. We can see more initiative for the EU banking Union,
indicated Emmanouilidis.
He said that as Merkel did not get a clear majority in the parliament a
coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD) is most likely now.
If there is a grand coalition with the SPD the second most important job
after the Chancellor for the EU is that of the finance minister and it is
expected that the current minister Wolfgang Schauble will retain his job, said
the analyst.
He has a large support in the German population and it will be difficult
for Merkel to say no to him, said Janis.
In the case of coalition with the SPD, the party will want its ex-foreign
minister Frank Meier Steinmeir to replace the current minister Guido
Westerwelle who is considered weak in the EU foreign policy affairs, he
speculated.
The two analysts were speaking at an event organized by the EPC on the
implications of the German election result for the EU. (end)
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KUNA 231829 Sep 13NNNN