Schröder Calls for Germans to Prepare for Sacrifices

The speaker stepped before his Berlin audience bearing a speech filled with hellfire and brimstone.

"What is wrong with our country?" he asked. "Clearly spoken: a loss of economic dynamism. The ossification of our society. An unbelievable mental depression. Those are the key words of the crisis."

That message was delivered to Germans in 1997. The bearer of the words was Roman Herzog, who was the president of Germany at the time.

Nearly six years have passed since Herzog preached his sermon, and the state of German society seems to have gotten worse. The country's economy is on the brink of a recession. Unemployment is rapidly approaching the record levels of 4.8 million set in 1998, and costs in the country's health care system continue to climb unchecked.

The chancellor has his say

On Friday, it was German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's turn to preach his own sermon and to point the way out of the crisis.

"We have to summon up the courage to launch the changes that are necessary to return our country to the top of Europe in economic and social performance," Schröder told the country's parliament in a speech considered to be one of the most important of his political career.

In place of hellfire and brimstone, the Social Democrat also preached sacrifice. "Nobody will be able to avoid making a contribution," he said.

That sacrifice will focus on the unemployed, among others, Schröder said. All jobless people younger than 55 will be able to draw unemployment benefits for a maximum of 12 months instead of 32 months, he said.

Incentive for work proposed

"There are some measures that will not excite a lot of people, including me," he said. But, the Social Democrat added, the cut should help create an incentive for people to take jobs.

Schröder began to deliver his speech in his usual manner, frequently stroking the edge of the pages as if he wanted to prevent them from flying off the podium. But as he continued to talk, he repeatedly swung his right hand up and down and side to side as he ran down a sweeping list of changes he plans to introduce in such areas as job law and health care.

After Schröder had finished his roughly 90-minute talk and the members of his coalition had completed their standing ovation, the leader of the country's biggest opposition party responded to the speech. "That is surely not a major master plan for the Federal Republic of Germany," said Angela Merkel (photo), chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union.

Merkel said she doubted that Schröder recognized the depths of Germany's problems and seemed to be focusing on "administering the moment."