German Chancellor Angela Merkel was injured in a fall while cross-country skiing in Switzerland forcing her to stay off her feet and cancel meetings, her spokesman said Monday, just as her new government got down to business.
Taking reporters by surprise, Steffen Seibert said that Merkel, 59, had cancelled two meetings with international leaders this week and also cut back her schedule for the next three weeks while she recovers.
The chancellor suffered a fractured pelvis which "makes it necessary for her to lie down a lot for three weeks and/or use a walking aid," Seibert said.
"She, therefore during this time, will concentrate on a few appointments at the chancellery and in Berlin and otherwise do her work at home," he said, stressing that this did not mean she would be out of touch.
"It goes without saying that as chancellor, she is at work and both capable of acting as well as communicating fully," Seibert said.
Merkel will lead Wednesday's cabinet meeting, the first of 2014 for her new "grand coalition" government, he said.
But she has had to cancel a planned trip to Warsaw on Wednesday as well as a visit to Berlin by Luxembourg's new prime minister which had been scheduled for Thursday, Seibert said, adding that new dates would be found for the talks.
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