Bad news not only for Germany, but for the EU as a whole.
Bild Zeitung reports that Gerhard Schroeder “has given up trying to cut costs and reducing social security payments(Bild Zeitung – article in German)”:http://www.bild.t-online.de/BTO/news/2004/05/02/kanzler__ende__sparkurs/kanzler__ende__sparkurs.html. Cost-cutting will not resume until the economy picks up. The surprising turn-around decision was, according to Bild, taken by senior members of both the SDP and the Green party.
