Chancellor hopeful Laschet to present economic plan to business heads

With Germany's election campaign entering its final stages the conservative bloc's chancellor candidate Armin Laschet is to set out the key points of his economic and financial policy on Wednesday.
Along with Christian Democrat (CDU) party colleague Friedrich Merz he plans to address the employers' association Suedwestmetall in Stuttgart, the capital of the south-western state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, on "directional decisions" in these policy areas.
The 65-year-old Merz is a member of Laschet's team of experts and is very popular with CDU members and the business community in Baden-Wuerttemberg. Many in the region would have preferred Merz as the party's candidate for chancellor.
Laschet, who is under heavy pressure because he is lagging behind the centre-left SPD in the polls, has already ruled out tax cuts on a grand scale.
The conservative election programme is about cutting red tape, loosening economic shackles and creating new opportunities for economic growth, he said recently.