Chancellor Angela Merkel\u2019s conservatives and Social Democrats (SPD) traded barbs about migration and tax cuts on Tuesday amid mounting questions about whether they can agree to renew the \u201cgrand coalition\u201d that ruled Germany for the past four years.<\/p>\n
Merkel, under pressure after failing to form a government three months after national elections, hopes to secure a fourth term in office by persuading the centre-left SPD to join the government despite punishing losses in September\u2019s election.<\/p>\n
Party leaders will meet for preliminary talks on Jan. 3 ahead of exploratory talks scheduled for Jan. 7 through Jan. 12, but a growing number of politicians now say Merkel might have to rule with a minority government, or face new elections.<\/p>\n
SPD deputy leader Thorsten Schaefer-Guembel said recent comments by some conservatives were \u201ccounterproductive for every form of government formation\u201d and said they had sparked doubts about the will of conservatives to govern together.<\/p>\n
He said a deal on a new coalition was far from certain and it was unclear if the talks could develop sufficient trust.<\/p>\n
\u201cA minority government remains an option, even if Chancellor Angela Merkel doesn\u2019t want to acknowledge that,\u201d he said in an interview published Tuesday in the Passauer Neue Presse newspaper.<\/p>\n
Schaefer-Guembel cited differences with conservatives on a range of issues and rejected as \u201cabsurd\u201d proposals by some conservatives to cut taxes for high-income earners.<\/p>\n
Conservatives and the SPD are also at odds over healthcare, immigration, Europe, work regulations and pensions.<\/p>\n
Schaefer-Guembel said he backed calls by SPD parliamentary leader Andrea Nahles to raise taxes for the wealthiest and urge fresh efforts to prevent big companies from evading taxes.<\/p>\n
Merkel\u2019s Bavarian sister party, the CSU, has distanced itself from the SPD through policy papers calling for corporate tax cuts, reductions in benefits for asylum seekers, higher military spending and limits on immigration.<\/p>\n
The powerful economic council of Merkel\u2019s Christian Democrats (CDU) said it will urge CSU party leaders to push for a minority government when they meet this week, arguing that Germany would face \u201cenormous financial burdens for generations\u201d if the SPD pushed through its spending plans in a coalition.<\/p>\n
\u201cA grand coalition will be more expensive in the long term than a minority government,\u201d Wolfgang Steiger, secretary general of the council told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper.<\/p>\n
The SPD initially wanted to stay in opposition, but agreed to explore the possibility of governing with the conservatives in the interest of political stability after Merkel\u2019s coalition talks with two smaller parties collapsed in November.<\/p>\n
Experts say new elections could hand more gains to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party that entered parliament for the first time in September. Merkel says a new coalition would be more stable than minority government.<\/p>\n
Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann, a CSU negotiator, told the Funke media group his party would insist on limiting immigration levels. It wanted to extend a temporary ban on family reunifications for migrants who were granted \u201csubsidiary protection\u201d, an asylum status for those not officially classed as refugees.<\/p>\n
He said his party viewed it as a democratic responsibility to negotiate a new coalition if policy gaps could be overcome.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope the Social Democrats feel the same sense of responsibility,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have an urgent need for action on the legislative front\u2026. We urgently need clear majorities in parliament, we need reliable coalitions.\u201d<\/p>\n
A top member of the pro-business Free Democrats, which dropped out of coalition talks with conservatives and Greens in November, said such a coalition remained a future possibility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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