GERMANY: The German government has agreed a €25 billion "growth package" to revive Europe's largest economy. The full investment details will be announced this morning, the last day of a two-day retreat outside Berlin.
But there are already plans to increase spending on research, infrastructure and childcare, as well as tax breaks for capital investment and home improvement.
Ahead of the retreat, chancellor Angela Merkel warned her cabinet not to let residual frustration at sharing power with political rivals after last year's inconclusive election result endanger the work ahead in Germany's new political reality.
"The SPD and CDU have to look out that, in punishing their own weaknesses, they lead this coalition to success and we both want success," she told Der Spiegel magazine.
The parties playing happy families today face an interesting challenge in March when they face into three state election campaigns as political rivals.
After just six weeks in office, the government parties already fear being overshadowed by their coalition partners and losing their political profile on key political themes.
The CDU already has an eye on what will happen after the grand coalition has ended and has launched a consultation process to rethink the party's basic values. The goal is to overhaul its family and education policies to encourage young people to start families and broaden access to third-level education - and, of course, vote CDU.
The party wants to retain its perceived economic competence but shed the neo-liberal image it earned in opposition by adopting a strategy of what it calls "new justice", a term it hopes will end the SPD's monopoly on "social justice" issues of social cohesion.
The SPD has plans to rewrite its own social policy, borrowing heavily from Scandinavian models, and to revive relations with the unions ahead of this year's pay talks.
New SPD party leader Matthias Platzeck has also called for a return of "decent values" to German life.
"Even if it sounds old-fashioned for some; tried and tested qualities like decency, dependability and duty should once again make more of a mark in Germany," he said.
The unhappiest of the coalition partners at present is the smallest, Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU), apparently caught in a paradox of power.
It is the largest party in Bavaria, representing two-thirds of voters, yet may prove too small in Berlin to be noticed.
Its unusual nature as the sister party of the CDU means it is unlikely to enjoy the traditional privileges of being the smaller coalition-maker, as the Green Party did under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.
CSU leader Edmund Stoiber realised this too late - after he had demanded to become economics minister - did a U-turn and returned to Munich, damaging his credibility and authority in the process.
However, the trusted deputy he sent to Berlin instead, economics minister Michael Glos, has tremendous potential to influence policy and drive on Germany's burgeoning economic revival.
"We're expecting strong economic growth from abroad to ignite domestic growth this year," said Mr Glos.