Germany's opposition Chancellor-candidate Angela Merkel unveiled her election platform Monday, hoping to become the first woman chancellor in the general election expected to take place in September.

At a joint press conference in Berlin with leader of Christian Social Union Edmund Stoiber, Merkel said, "We want to give our country chances."

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder advanced the national election a year forward after his Social Democrats (SPD) lost a state election in stronghold North Rhine Westphalia.

Opinion polls show that Merkel's Christian Democratic Union alliance takes a marginal lead over Schroeder's SPD party.

The 38-page election manifesto includes a controversial plan to raise value-added tax (VAT) and further free up the country's hire-and-fire rules, along with plans for another revamp of Germany's tax system as well as a cut in corporate tax from 25 percent to 22percent.

Under the platform of Merkel, companies are allowed to withdraw from the nation's system of industry-wide pay settlements, which experts say could cause conflict with Germany's powerful trade unions.

A proposal for health-care reform, based on the introduction of a flat-rate premium for each insured adult, is also included in her program.

Under a Merkel-led government, revenue from the VAT rise from 16 percent to 18 percent would help cut labor costs in the country. She would use the funds raised from the VAT increase to reduce jobless insurance from 6.5 percent to 4.5 percent.

In addition to making it more attractive for firms to hire jobless people and temporary workers, Merkel also wants to further liberalize Germany's redundancy laws to help smaller companies with up to 20 employees to fire workers.

This represents an extension of the reforms introduced by Schroeder, who wants to make it easier for companies employing 10 workers to fire employees.

In the diplomatic area, aside from enhancing the US-backed military alliance of NATO, Merkel is expected to improve relations with the United States, which were rocky as Germany was firmly opposed to the US-led invasion into Iraq.

Her election platform also confirmed that Turkey would be essentially ruled out European Union membership and instead given privileged partnership.

She insisted that the current drive to EU enlargement end with Bulgaria and Romania, which are due to enter the bloc in January 2007.

(Xinhua News Agency July 12, 2005)