Germany’s two main parties cleared the way on Wednesday for a grand left-right coalition to break the country’s political deadlock and said they would meet within a day to thrash out who would lead it.
Two-and-a-half weeks after an inconclusive parliamentary election stranded Europe’s biggest economy in political paralysis, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and his conservative challenger, Angela Merkel, said final exploratory talks on forming a left-right government had been “positive”.
Officials in Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) said a leadership summit would be held on Thursday to try to resolve the thorny question of who should preside over the new government.
Both Schröder, who has led a centre-left government since 1998, and Merkel claim they have the mandate for the chancellery.
Taking part in the summit would be Schröder, Merkel, Edmund Stoiber — who leads the Christian Democrats’ Bavarian sister party — and Franz Muentefering, party chief of Schröder’s Social Democrats, the sources said.
The CDU officials said “personnel issues” must be decided before the start of formal coalition negotiations.
“I would say this was a rather good day,” Merkel smiled after two-and-a-half hours of talks on Wednesday with the Social Democrats.
“I feel more optimistic than pessimistic. We had great success in agreeing on the content [of a programme] … I see a possibility to form a coalition,” added Merkel, bidding to become Germany’s first female chancellor.
Schröder agreed, telling reporters: “We have a strong basis for a grand coalition.”
Their remarks soothed fears that their talks, a third round of exploratory negotiations after the conservative alliance finished four seats ahead of the Social Democrats in the September 18 vote, would flounder because of the row over who should lead the government.
But Merkel said the summit of party leaders would be crucial in deciding if coalition negotiations could begin.
“We need to see if we have a basis of trust for coalition talks. We must see if we can put together our respective households, and part of this will be the issue of personnel,” Merkel said.
Schröder said more government posts than just the chancellor’s job would have to be discussed.
“I think it has become clear to the [Christian Democratic] Union that one cannot just settle one issue first,” he said.
The last time a grand coalition ran Germany was in the late 1960s.
The conservatives have been heaping pressure on Schröder to back down on his claim to the chancellery, saying that Merkel, as the leader of the biggest parliamentary group, holds a clear mandate.
But many observers believe the charismatic Schröder, who has held the post for the past seven years, is playing a political poker game intended to secure the best possible coalition deal for his party.
One suggestion is that if he bows out he will try to bring down Merkel with him, clearing the way for a different conservative chancellor.
“How much is Schröder worth?” the daily Bild asked on Wednesday, adding that the Social Democrats want to “sell the chancellery for as much gain as possible”.
A poll by the Forsa research institute released on Wednesday showed that public support for Merkel as chancellor has grown, with 34% of people canvassed favouring her for the job, compared with 26% for Schröder.
Merkel has, however, faced criticism within her own party for its poor showing at the polls in an election that had seemed hers to win on the back of popular discontent with rising unemployment and Schröder’s reform programme.
On Wednesday, one of her main rivals within the Christian Democrats, former economics strategist Friedrich Merz, said the fact that only 35,2% of voters cast their ballots for the conservatives showed there was a “problem with the campaign and with the people at the top”. — AFP