Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Germany opposition leader Angela Merkel today unveiled a team of experts that will shape policy as she attempts to oust Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in the Sept. 18 election.

Merkel told a news conference in Berlin that all of the team apart from the expert on Eastern Germany, Dieter Althaus, are prepared to serve in her cabinet should the opposition win the election. Her Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, lead Schroeder's Social Democrats in the opinion polls.

Following is the line-up of the expert team:

Dieter Althaus (Eastern Germany):

The only member of Merkel's team who grew up in the formerly communist east, Althaus, 47, has been prime minister of the state of Thuringia for more than two years. Althaus, a trained teacher, is married and has two daughters.

Althaus joined the German Democratic Republic's CDU branch in 1985, became a lawmaker in Thuringia's first post-reunification parliament and took over as prime minister on June 5, 2003.

Althaus plays soccer and enjoys diving and riding mountain bikes.

Guenther Beckstein (Interior and Justice):

Beckstein, Bavaria's minister of the interior, is one of two nominees to the team of experts from the CSU.

The 61 year-old attorney, who's been in charge of Bavaria's policing and security for 12 years, claims the state has Germany's best record in solving crimes and -- at 1.1 percent in 2004 -- the slowest crime growth rate. The father of three favors a change in the constitution to allow troops to take on an anti-terror role at home, a step rejected by Schroeder.

Gerda Hasselfeldt (Agriculture, Consumer Protection and Environment):

The 55 year-old CSU member and trained economist held two ministerial posts -- regional planning and health -- under Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

The divorced mother of two has been a member of parliament since 1987. After the 2002 election, Hasselfeldt became the CDU/CSU's deputy parliamentary leader with responsibilities for consumer protection, food, agriculture, communal policies, energy and tourism.

Hasselfeldt in 2002 won 59.4 percent of the votes for the CSU in her electoral district in Fuerstenfeldbruck, near Munich.

Paul Kirchhof (Finance):

Kirchhof, 62, is a professor of finance at the University of Heidelberg. Prior to his academic career he served as a judge at the Federal Constitutional Court, Germany's highest judicial authority, for 12 years.

Kirchhof, who last October took up a seat on Deutsche Bank AG's supervisory board, has been acclaimed by executives and business groups for his proposal to simplify Germany's tax system. Under his plan, all of Germany's 163 subsidies to taxpayers would be scrapped and proceeds be used to cut the general level of taxes on personal income to a rate of no more than 25 percent.

During his term as constitutional-court judge, Kirchhof oversaw the April 1998 decision to refuse to hear a lawsuit designed to block Germany's entry into European Monetary Union.

A year later, the court in Karlsruhe ruled that Schroeder's newly elected government must improve tax treatment of families. Kirchhof, a father of four, led the eight-judge panel that took that decision.

Kirchhof is not a member of the CDU or CSU.

Norbert Lammert (Culture):

Lammert, 56, acquired government experience under Helmut Kohl. During Kohl's last two terms, the father of four served as deputy minister in three portfolios -- economics, education and transportation.

The Christian Democrat, who's been a member of the lower house of parliament for a quarter of a century, became vice president of the legislature after the last election in 2002.

Ursula von der Leyen (Social and Family Matters):

Von der Leyen, 46, has been minister for social, family and health-care matters in the regional government of Lower Saxony, Schroeder's home state, since March 2003.

That month, the Christian Democrats ended 13-years of Social Democrat rule in Lower Saxony, where Volkswagen AG, Europe's largest carmaker, is based.

Von der Leyen, a trained gynecologist who spent four years conducting medical research at Stanford University in the U.S. after graduating, joined the Christian Democrats in 1990, the year the two German states reunited.

One of seven children of former Lower Saxony Prime Minister Ernst Albrecht, von der Leyen -- who has seven children herself - joined the Christian Democrats' steering committee last December.

Peter Mueller (Economy, Labor and Infrastructure):

Mueller, prime minister of Saarland state, a former steel- producing and coal-mining region, has been selected for Merkel's team as a labor expert who gained a reputation for competence since mediating for the opposition over Schroeder's plan to ease immigration restrictions.

The 50 year-old father of three, who lists the clarinet among his pastimes, wants to water down powers vested by Schroeder in the Federal Labor Agency, which has 100,000 staff and is responsible for paying benefits and finding jobs for Germany's 4.8 million unemployed. He favors putting local councils in charge of finding work placements for people without a job for more than a year.

Wolfgang Schaeuble (Europe, Foreign Affairs and Security):

Schaeuble, who will turn 63 on election day, was minister without a portfolio, head of the chancellor's office and the first interior minister in the reunified Germany under Kohl.

Married and a father of four, Schaeuble has been paralyzed from the third vertebra down since Oct. 12, 1990, when an attacker attempted to assassinate him at an election rally. He has since been confined to a wheelchair.

Kohl said in 1997 Schaeuble should be Germany's next chancellor. After losing the election in 1998, Kohl stepped down as CDU party chairman and Schaeuble took on the position in addition to his role as parliamentary leader. A party financing scandal prompted Schaeuble to give up both jobs in 2000.

Schaeuble told U.S. President George W. Bush on July 27 a CDU- led government would seek better transatlantic relations. The two politicians met for 45 minutes at the White House after talks with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley.

Annette Schavan (Education, Innovation and Research):

Schavan, education minister for a decade in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, joins Merkel's team as a proponent of discipline and excellence in schooling to correct Germany's low rating in tests run by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development.

The 50 year-old educator also supports the use of loans to finance students' college education in place of means-tested grants, saying parents should save for their children's education as well as their own old age.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rainer Buergin in Berlin at rbuergin1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 17, 2005 07:36 EDT