Berlin
Germany’s two main political parties formally approved a grand coalition agreement this week. The parliamentary elections—held back in mid-September—gave the right-wing Christian Democrats just a tiny margin over the left-wing Social Democrats, and the two parties have spent weeks wrangling over details of their joint government. Incoming Chancellor Angela Merkel, the first woman to hold that office, this week began to turn her attention to governing. Top items on her agenda include increasing the value-added tax from 16 percent to 19 percent and cutting pensions.
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