He defends his seven years in power, she attacks him for broken promises. The German Chancellor and the leader of the opposition have spoken to the Bundestag for the last time before elections on September the 18th.

Schroeder said: “When you see that in 2004 we still had a growth in exports of 10 percent, and that we are expecting that to be the same this year, you can see that our political reforms were fruitful and efficient and this is why they need to be followed through.” Conservative opposition leader Angela Merkel said Schroeder has made nothing but broken promises, introduced bad policies and is not able to justify why they are needed. Merkel is ahead of Schroeder in the polls by at least 10 percent.

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