Berlin – Conservative leader Angela Merkel pushed her demand to serve as the next chancellor while the current one, Gerhard Schroeder, clung to his competing claim as they readied Thursday for tough talks aimed at ending Germany’s political crisis.
The two prepared to meet for a round of negotiations along with Franz Muentefering, the chairman of Schroeder’s Social Democrats, and Merkel’s fellow conservative leader, Edmund Stoiber.
Both sides warned that the haggling could last through Sunday.
If Schroeder and Merkel can decide who will back off, both parties are to hold leadership meetings Monday that could endorse the beginning of formal talks on a “grand coalition” of Germany’s two biggest political parties.
“We believe that we will have results on Sunday evening that are firm,” Muentefering told reporters.
Muentefering said his party was keeping its aim of governing “with Gerhard Schroeder at the helm” – although he appeared to suggest that was an aspiration rather than a demand.
Merkel stuck firmly to her own demand that the Social Democrats recognize her right, as the leader of the largest group in Parliament, to become Germany’s first female chancellor.
“We have always said that, to start (formal) coalition negotiations, a further condition must be fulfilled – a basis of trust must be created,” Merkel told reporters. “This basis of trust can only be created if certain rules are respected.”
She also insisted that her conservative bloc should get the job of Parliament president, which traditionally goes to the strongest parliamentary group.
Merkel refused to say what inducements she might offer the Social Democrats to back down.
Muentefering was similarly tight-lipped about the chances of his party’s lawmakers accepting Merkel as chancellor, noting that a coalition would have to be endorsed by a party convention.
