Schroeder's party pressed for quick leadership climbdown
A senior German conservative today pressed Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s party to back off swiftly from its claim to lead the country and create a “climate of trust” for coalition talks.
Two weeks after Germany’s inconclusive election, Schroeder yesterday signalled that he could drop his demand to keep the top job.
He said he was putting his future in the hands of his Social Democrats – who promptly said they would continue to back him as chancellor.
Challenger Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc, which emerged with four more seats in parliament than Schroeder’s party, renewed its demand the Social Democrats recognise her right to the chancellery before the two sides open formal talks on a coalition government.
“When one enters coalition negotiations, one needs a climate of trust that must mark a government afterward,” Volker Kauder, the general secretary of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, told ARD television.
The Social Democrats insist they must be treated as an equal partner.
