Schröder Defends Record, Hits Out at CDU

In what appeared to many observers as a rehash of Sunday's televised debate, Gerhard Schröder and Angela Merkel used the last parliamentary session before the election to engage in another verbal showdown.

Schröder's 40-minute speech was at times emotional and humorous. The incumbent defended his government's record over the past seven years, and called on voters to grant him a third term.

Merkel also made a self-confident appearance, but as in Sunday's debate, was deemed to have come across less convincingly than her media-savvy opponent.

Energy an issue

Schröder used the current turmoil over oil prices in the wake of hurricane Katrina to praise his government’s "shrewd" energy policy, which promotes a phase-out of nuclear power and a greater reliance on renewable energy sources.

“It’s absolutely vital that we pursue an energy policy which leads us away from too much dependence on oil," Schröder said. "I remember vividly how the opposition conservatives criticized our strategy on investing in renewable energies. But now even they have had to realize that there’s no reasonable alternative to our course.”

Schröder hit out at the opposition's plans to give fresh impetus to nuclear energy as "completely the wrong path to take."

He also lambasted the Christian Democrats' tax proposals, including a two-percentage-point rise in value added tax (VAT), which he said was "nonsensical."

On his own record on the highly sensitive issue of unemployment, Schröder told parliament that his reforms "were starting to work," and accused Merkel of painting a negative picture of the situation.

"You're finished"

In reply, Merkel, accused the chancellor of failing to see the realities.

“After seven years of a red-green coalition government, we have more jobless people and less economic growth than back in 1998," Merkel said.

Addressing Schröder, she accused him of giving Germany "seven years of empty promises, of following the wrong policies, or of not seeing things through."

"That's why you're finished," she said.

Merkel's lead shrinking

Following Sunday's debate, though, Merkel's once substantial lead over Schröder has shrunk, according to a poll by the Forsa research institute. On Wednesday, surveys showed she may not achieve her goal of a center-right coalition.

The Forsa poll carried out immediately after Sunday's debate showed a coalition of Merkel's CDU and the free-market liberal Free Democrats (FDP) winning a combined 48 percent of the vote, one point less than the total of all other parties.

A separate survey by pollsters Emnid gave Merkel's coalition a one-point lead.

"If this development stabilizes, it will be tight for CDU/CSU and FDP," Forsa chief Manfred Göllner told German broadcaster RTL.