By Philip Blenkinsop
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germans are expected to learn on Monday
who will take charge of their country, after talks between
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and conservative rival Angela
Merkel aimed at settling the bitter leadership feud.
Schroeder and Social Democrat (SPD) chairman Franz
Muentefering are to sit down for a third, and probably final,
time from 11 a.m. (0900 GMT) on Monday with Merkel and her
ally, Christian Social Union (CSU) leader Edmund Stoiber.
The four party heavyweights ended a second round of
discussions shortly before midnight on Sunday and left without
saying a word. They had cautioned last week that no
announcement would be made before Monday.
Three weeks after an election which gave neither the
conservatives nor the SPD enough votes to rule with their
preferred allies, analysts predict they will eventually strike
a deal to make Merkel Germany’s first woman chancellor.
The SPD would yield their prime bargaining chip, Schroeder,
to gain key ministerial posts and as many seats in cabinet as
Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and their CSU partners.
Wolfgang Schaeuble, deputy parliamentary leader of the
conservatives, told reporters on Sunday that the conservatives
would walk away from the table unless Schroeder, 61, ended his
seven years in office.
“I think Schroeder has understood that he will not remain
federal chancellor,” Schaeuble said.
The leaders are expected to hold consultative sessions with
their parties both before and after Monday’s discussion round.
A deal over who leads Germany would open the door to
detailed coalition talks over three weeks after the most
inconclusive election result in postwar German history.
The talks to forge a power-sharing coalition of the
country’s two largest parties, dubbed a “grand coalition,” are
likely to drag into November.
CONSERVATIVE CONCESSIONS?
The conservatives won four more seats in parliament than
the SPD in September’s election, but the personal battle
between Schroeder and Merkel has left Germany in a political
limbo that economists say could harm its struggling economy.
German gross domestic product is expected to grow just 1
percent this year, the weakest rate in the 25-nation European
Union. Unemployment hit a postwar high in February of over 5.2
million people, 12.6 percent of the workforce.
Financial markets have been watching the talks closely to
see how far Merkel, who had advocated a further shakeup of the
labor market, will have to water down her reform agenda to
appease the SPD and secure the chancellorship.
If Merkel makes too many concessions it could delay or
scupper some changes which Germany, dubbed by some critics the
“sick man of Europe,” urgently needs to boost its growth rate,
financial analysts say.
The lack of word from the first round of talks between
Schroeder, Muentefering, Merkel and Stoiber, has not stopped
Germany’s media speculating on what deal they might agree.
Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported on Sunday, without
giving its sources, that Schroeder could become foreign
minister and vice-chancellor in a Merkel-led cabinet.
Schaeuble told journalists on Sunday he expected the
conservatives would yield the foreign ministry to the SPD.
(Additional reporting by Jeff Mason)
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