Merkel win boon or bane?

Madrid, Spain – The unprecedented win of Angela Merkel to a third term as Chancellor of Germany puts her on course as the only woman to surpass the record of the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as the longest serving female to lead a nation. Not surprisingly, Merkel’s historic win has been dominating the news all across Europe considering Germany’s leadership position as “chief economic engineer and banker” of the European Union.

Reactions however have been divided, with supporters of the freshly-reelected German Chancellor calling her the most experienced leader in the Western world and comparable to Vladimir Putin (with the two almost coming to blows last June over the “Eberswalde Hoard’ consisting of 81 pieces of ancient German treasure confiscated by Russian troops as war booty at the end of the Second World War).  

On the other hand, the Greeks were certainly not elated. Greece – whose economy went belly up in 2009 – has been resentful of the German Chancellor’s response to the EU crisis which, in a word, can be summarized as “austerity.” The cautious approach adopted by Merkel has earned for her such unflattering descriptions as tightfisted and monikers like “ugly German.” Greeks in particular were frustrated, prompting support for her rival, Social Democratic Candidate Peer Steinbrueck. 

Others, however, are more optimistic, expecting to see more flexibility from the “Iron Lady of Europe” whose management style has been characterized by observers as “soft power and hard cash.” Being the most affluent nation in the European Union, Germany has had a lot of say regarding bailout terms and conditions for debtor nations like Greece, Italy and Portugal, employing a “carrot and stick” approach.

Germans have given Merkel an overwhelming new mandate, appreciating the hard budget cuts and austerity she demanded from crisis-stricken nations. While other EU member-nations continue to grapple with unemployment and deep recession due to the crisis, with citizens kicking out their political leaders and causing upheavals even in the so-called creditor nations like Finland and the Netherlands, Germany – Merkel notably – has been spared from this trend as proven by the election results where voter turnout was a respectable 79 percent.

German businessmen see the election as an opportunity for government to redirect the focus from the European crisis to the local front, where impending problems include high energy costs. Germany’s economy is strengthening and speeding up, with increasing GDP forecasts to boot. In a way, Merkel’s fresh win gives her a little more breathing space and more time to take on the Eurozone crisis while allowing her to focus on the domestic economy. Clearly, her win is more boon than bane despite what her critics may say, analysts noted.

Spain recovery on track

One proof that the Eurozone’s austerity measures are working can be gleaned from the emerging recovery of Spain from the economic slump, with the economy showing signs of growth by as much as 0.2 percent in the last three months. Not much, but better than negative or no growth at all, with the figures pushed by a sharp increase in exports from the car industry and other “newly competitive” sectors, said an official of the EU.

Data shows the unemployment rate in Spain has been going down for six consecutive months up to August, keeping hopes buoyed that the Spanish economy will soon emerge from recession. In fact, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was even lauded by US President Barack Obama during an unscheduled encounter at the G-20 Summit in St. Petersburg in Russia, with the American president approaching Rajoy and praising the latter for undertaking government reforms that have done a lot to put Spain on the course of recovery in the last 12 months, Spanish papers reported.

The economic recovery is also critical in Spain’s bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics, with the Spanish Prime Minister making his pitch to the International Olympic Committee that “now more than ever, Madrid makes sense.” Rajoy is capitalizing on Madrid’s capability to host the games, stressing Spain’s robust tourism industry as additional proof with an estimated 58 million tourists recorded last year. Some 34 million foreign visitors have already been recorded in the first six months of this year, up 3.9 percent from the same period last year.

Phl leader in e-voting

We came across an article at FutureGov – one of the most important publications in Asia for the public sector – lauding Filipino public servants for “performing wonders” despite such encumbrances as threadbare public finances, never-ending typhoons and disasters, policy shifts, judicial intervention, leaky budgetary allocation and challenges in information communication and technology (ICT).

The same article also noted that “alongside India, they (Philippines) are world leaders in e-voting,” projecting the country’s rise as a world leader in “mobile government” as smartphone penetration rises among the public sector. Interestingly, the same article observed that Singapore – small as it may be – “commands the heights of e-government rankings with its robust, transactional service delivery” – yet this is not so much a success of technology as it is a “civil servant success” for making projects work, the article stressed.

FutureGov reportedly has the largest international network of government modernization conferences with an established network of senior public sector officials in Asia and the Middle East, whose objective is to identify opportunities in improving governance and efficiency of public sector organizations. It’s interesting to note how the editors have recognized the e-voting success in the Philippines, with the last nationwide automated elections getting positive acclaim from Netizens for the “painless” voting experience with many happily reporting that they took less than five minutes to completely shade the ballots and cast their votes.  Clearly, the wave of the future is e-voting, and government should capitalize on the success of the two automated elections to help move the country forward.

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