BERLIN, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has pledged renewed support for economic and governmental reform.
Schroeder made the statement during a business conference in Berlin.
Less than a week earlier, the chancellor seemed to be shying away from the path of reform when he stepped back from a proposed increase in nursing insurance fees. At the time, he said it was important not to overburden the German public with too many fast-track changes.
Schroeder's statement this week acknowledged voter discomfort with changes in social services, but questioned the logic of vocal complaints.
"There seems to be a complete rupture between general acceptance (of proposed reforms) and the much more cautious views one observes whenever they become concrete," Schroeder said.
A recent Forsa poll asking Germans what party they would vote for if an election were held immediately showed Schroeder's SPD getting only 24 percent of the vote, well behind the conservative Christian Democrats' 49 percent.
