Summary
22 November 2013
Germany is to introduce a national minimum wage. Chancellor Angela Merkel said she'd concede this measure to the Social Democrats with whom she is negotiating to form a coalition government. The move was welcomed by other countries in the Eurozone.
Reporter:
Steve Evans
Angela Merkel: minimum wage for workers in Germany
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Report
Chancellor Merkel said she would accept the minimum wage but, in return, would not accede to Social Democrat calls for higher taxes.
The French finance minister welcomed the floor on German pay as a signal of what he saw as a more cooperative German attitude within overall European economic policy.
It is not clear, though, that a German minimum wage would transform the European economic situation. It all depends on what level it is set at, and there is great resistance in Germany to doing anything which would make German exports less attractive.
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Vocabulary
- accede
agree to do what someone else wants
- calls
requests; demands
- taxes
money that people and businesses pay to the government
- signal
sign; indication
- cooperative
helpful
- resistance
(here) refusal to accept a change or something new
