"These are turbulent times and sometimes we find ourselves in stormy waters. But it is the German CDU that has the clear direction to steer our country through these seas," said Merkel. She said repeatedly that hers was "the most successful government" since German reunification in 1990, a claim opposition parties have ridiculed but which her allies in Hanover cheered.
Merkel, a physicist and Lutheran pastor's daughter from East Germany, has become a towering figure in the CDU, a party that before her had been dominated by men from western Germany. One pin being given away at the congress pictured her with CDU legends Konrad Adenauer, West Germany's first post-war chancellor, and Helmut Kohl, who led the country to reunification and was once Merkel's mentor.
Merkel, known to colleagues as Mutti, or mummy, sent a reassuring message about where she would take Germany if she wins a third term, a feat accomplished only by Adenauer and Kohl. She set out three main goals: equal opportunities for all, including immigrants; prosperity and job security with a legal minimum wage; and solidarity for the weaker elements of society, such as the elderly and depressed areas of the former East Germany.
Sarah Kohl, a 23-year-old student who was attending her first national party congress, credited Merkel with shielding Germany against the youth unemployment problems haunting other countries in the 17-nation euro zone. "As a young person, I can say that I have no fears," she said, likening Germany under Merkel to "a company that has a good boss - why should you change the management?" "A leadership debate would be a sign that there is a leadership problem, but there isn't," Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere, one of Merkel's closest allies, told Reuters. Merkel has a good chance of winning a third term next September despite a sharp slide in support for her current coalition partner, the liberal Free Democrats (FDP).