Angela Merkel became Germany's first female chancellor today, ending months of political uncertainty and ushering in a fragile new coalition of left and right that must prove it can revive Europe's biggest economy.
Ms Merkel at a meeting of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in Berlin
Merkel, the 51-year-old pastor's daughter who started her political career after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, was confirmed in Germany's top post by a parliamentary vote in which 397 of the Bundestag's 614 members backed her -- easily enough for the majority she needed in the lower house.
She became Germany's eighth postwar chancellor, its youngest and the first to have grown up in the ex-communist east.
"Dear Dr Merkel, you are now the first ever elected female head of government in Germany. That is a strong signal for many women, and certainly for some men too," joked parliamentary speaker Norbert Lammert, who swore Merkel into office.
Her predecessor Gerhard Schroeder, who initially refused to cede his post when her conservatives narrowly beat his Social Democrats in a Sept. 18 election, was the first to congratulate Merkel after the result was read out to a hushed chamber.
Schroeder later handed over the Chancellery keys to Merkel in an emotional ceremony in which he wished her luck and she thanked him for modernising Germany.
Merkel has vowed to cut unemployment and repair ties with Washington, strained by Schroeder's vocal opposition to the U.S.-led Iraq war. But she enters office weaker than she had hoped with a majority of Germans convinced her unwieldy alliance will not last a full four-year term.
Most Germans also believe the first "grand coalition" since the 1960s will fail to boost the economy, cut jobless queues or reduce Germany's indebtedness, according to a poll released by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper on Tuesday.
Merkel said finding more jobs for Germans would be key.
Merkel's confirmation as chancellor comes two months after a tight election she had been expected to win easily, and a half year after Schroeder shocked the nation by calling for early polls. The result left Merkel with little choice but to form a coalition with the SPD, arch-rivals of her party for decades.
During tough month-long coalition negotiations, Merkel, whose reformist zeal has been likened to that of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was forced to abandon her most ambitious plans for shaking up the German social welfare system.