After basking for days in the limelight of Germany's reunification celebrations, Chancellor Angela Merkel returned to the political fray Tuesday when she presented her government's priorities, warning that the worst effects of the global financial crisis would hit Germany next year. Making her first policy speech since being sworn in for a second four-year term two weeks ago, Mrs. Merkel gave a pessimistic assessment of the German economy, something she rarely did when the global financial crisis began to pummel Germany earlier this year. Back then, Mrs. Merkel, who was facing re-election, said Germany might even weather the storm. But her hour-long speech to legislators in the Bundestag, or lower house of Parliament, was often blunt as she hammered home the point that Germany had some way to go before emerging from the economic crisis.
Making her first policy speech since being sworn in for a second four-year term two weeks ago, Mrs. Merkel gave a pessimistic assessment of the German economy, something she rarely did when the global financial crisis began to pummel Germany earlier this year. Back then, Mrs. Merkel, who was facing re-election, said Germany might even weather the storm.
But her hour-long speech to legislators in the Bundestag, or lower house of Parliament, was often blunt as she hammered home the point that Germany had some way to go before emerging from the economic crisis.
