Angela Merkel became Germany's first woman Chancellor yesterday, 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, 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 becomes Germany's eighth post-war Chancellor and the first one to have grown up in the former 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 Ms Merkel into office.
Her predecessor Gerhard Schroeder, who initially refused to cede his post when her conservatives narrowly beat his Social Democrats in a September 18 election, was the first to congratulate Ms Merkel after the result was read out to a hushed chamber.
Mr Schroeder later handed over the Chancellery keys to Ms Merkel in an emotional ceremony in which he wished her luck and she thanked him for modernising Germany.
Ms Merkel has vowed to cut unemployment and repair ties with Washington, strained by Mr Schroeder's vocal opposition to the US-led Iraq war. But she enters office weaker than she had hoped and with a majority of Germans convinced her unwieldy alliance, the first "grand coalition" since the 1960s, will not last a full four-year term.
Ms Merkel's confirmation as Chancellor comes two months after a tight election she had been expected to win easily, and a half-year after Mr Schroeder shocked the nation by calling for early polls. The result left Ms 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, Ms 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.
She will have to hope that the central plank of her coalition programme - a bipartisan deal to bring the budget deficit back within EU limits by 2007 through higher sales taxes - will not hinder growth by cramping consumer spending.
Once Europe's motor, Germany now has one of the weakest growth rates in the 25-nation European Union. Reviving the economy and slashing unemployment, which hit postwar highs under Mr Schroeder, are the new government's main priorities.
The challenge for the new government was underscored yesterday in European Commission note showing it will ask EU Finance Ministers in February to escalate budget disciplinary procedures against Germany to the last stage before sanctions.
Separately, the head of the German BGA exporters association said the economy would not grow by more than 0.7 per cent this year, below a prior forecast for 0.9 per cent growth.
With 397 votes, Ms Merkel won more support in parliament than any previous Chancellor, but 51 of the 448 deputies from her coalition chose not to support her.