German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives promised Germans more police, more homes and full employment within eight years, when they presented their program on Monday for an election in which she will seek a fourth term in office.

“Our goal is that we want to have achieved full employment by 2025. We think we can do it. If we look back to 2005 then we would have been laughed at if we had presented this as a goal," said Merkel. "Now in 2017 we have managed to halve unemployment from 2005 and now we say that by 2025 we can halve unemployment in Germany again from the current 5.5 percent to under 3 percent and that is what we call full employment." 

Apart from more jobs, Merkel also promised to add 15,000 police officers in the 16 federal states and build 1.5 million homes during the next five years. An opinion poll showed Merkel’s Christian Democrats and its allies held a clear lead over rivals. Merkel added the European Stability Mechanism could play a bigger role in future financial crises, and perhaps act alone.‍