Angela Merkel's party enjoys a 20-point lead in opinion polls

The main priority will be creating new jobs, said Christian Democratic leader Angela Merkel, who is tipped to become the country's next chancellor.

Germany has 4.7 million unemployed people, and the issue looks likely to dominate the election campaign.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder wanted the early election in order to seek a new mandate for controversial reforms.

Mr Schroeder asked parliament to vote down his government after losing a key state poll in May, when his Social Democratic Party (SPD) lost its former stronghold of North Rhine-Westphalia to the CDU.

President Horst Koehler has to decide whether to call the new elections a year ahead of the original schedule.

Polls show 70% of Germans want early elections, which are likely to be held on 18 September.

'Honest' programme

"There hasn't been such an honest election programme for a long time," Ms Merkel said as she unveiled the CDU's election manifesto - entitled Taking Germany's Opportunities - at a news conference in Berlin.

The number one issue is giving priority to jobs Angela Merkel CDU leader Profile: Angela Merkel

"We decided on this because we are convinced that Germany has never had it so bad as today.

"Germany is now bottom in Europe in economic growth," Ms Merkel said.

Experts say Germany's economy is currently underperforming, but its growth rates are ahead of those of Denmark, Italy, and the Netherlands. Ms Merkel said it was her aim to put her country in the top three within the next 10 years.

To do so, she said she would reduce labour costs and make it easier to hire and fire workers in order to stimulate growth in the world's third-largest economy.

"The number one issue is giving priority to jobs," Ms Merkel said.

Schroeder is taking a huge political gamble, say analysts

She also announced increases in value-added tax, something that may cost her votes, the BBC's Ray Furlong in Berlin says.

Ms Merkel enjoys a 20-point lead in the opinion polls, and seems to judge that she can be honest about what will probably be an unpopular measure, says our correspondent.

On foreign policy, the conservative manifesto says the party would re-invigorate relations with the United States, which were damaged by a rift over the Iraq war.

It also calls for improving the EU budget, with Germany contributing less money, and restates the party's opposition to Turkey joining the European Union.