Schröder faces ‘make-or-break’ year

The German Economics and Employment Minister, Wolfgang Clement, said on 16 January 2003 that economic reforms must be implemented in Germany in 2003. Mr Clement went on to say that the European Union needed an 'American approach' to setting interest rates, arguing that the rates set by the European Central Bank should be lowered to US levels, and that the ECB's policy of maintaining high interest rates was one explanation for Germany's economic problems.