GERMANY: German chancellor Angela Merkel has challenged voters and warned her new government to take personal responsibility for the country's future and to "make Germany once again the motor of Europe".
Dr Merkel also used her first speech to parliament as chancellor to warn France and Britain that Germany will not accept a greater financial burden to resolve their budget row.
"Let us forgo the practised rituals, the reflex-driven outcry when we want to change something," said Dr Merkel to the MPs in her grand coalition between her own Christian Democrats (CDU) and the traditional rivals, the Social Democrats (SPD).
"A grand coalition of two different parties opens the unexpected possibility of asking what we can do better together without having to be held back by blaming and finger-pointing ... Let's surprise ourselves with what we can achieve."
Dr Merkel's message of personal responsibility had overtones of Margaret Thatcher's famous 1987 interview when she said "there is no such thing as society". But the chancellor qualified her statement, saying: "We are aware that a people is more than a loose collection of individuals. That a people always shares a common destiny."
Germany's new grand coalition government has no real opposition in either house of parliament but faces the challenge of carrying out further economic and social cuts while trying to stimulate growth, all while holding together the various wings of the CDU and SPD.
Dr Merkel promised to "release the brakes on growth" without hitting the weakest in society while implementing a huge reform programme: to reduce unemployment, improve standards in schools and universities, cut debt and rework the health and pension systems.
"Nothing can stop us but ourselves," she said.
She vowed to rebuild "close, honest, open and trusting" transatlantic relations but urged the US to clarify its response to allegations regarding the transfer of CIA prisoners.