Schroder signals he may make way for Merkel
MARK BEUNDERMAN
26.09.2005 @ 09:54 CET
In a move that could break the German post-election deadlock, chancellor Gerhard Schroder signalled over the weekend that he might step down in order to pave the way for a "grand coalition" of conservatives and social democrats.
Mr Schroder said over the weekend on german television that he was "in favour" of a grand coalition that would include the CDU party led by Angela Merkel.
Ms Merkel may take over the chancellorship from Mr Schroder in 2007 (Photo: CDU)
The CDU won the German elections just over a week ago (18 September) by a margin of just three seats – which prompted Mr Schroder to repeatedly say last week that he would not give up the chancellorship.
But in the TV interview, the chancellor said that he would do "everything" for a grand coalition to come into being – a remark that is widely interpreted by German media as a signal that Mr Schroder is prepared to step down.
Mr Schroder said he was "quite confident" the question on which party will get the chancellorship will be resolved.
One possible scenario is that the top job will shift from Mr Schroder to Ms Merkel at a later date, Sueddeutsche reports.
According to the paper, circles within the SPD are considering a scenario whereby Mr Schroder will continue his job as chancellor until 2007, after which Ms Merkel will take over the leadership of a grand coalition.
But the CDU leadership over the weekend blasted such a scenario, reiterating that a grand coalition is only possible under the full leadership of Ms Merkel.
However, Die Welt reports that the CDU itself is not ready to fully embrace Ms Merkel, who scored a disappointing election result, as its only candidate for the chancellorship.
Reports say the party is still keeping its options open, despite the fact that other possible candidates for the job such as regional prime ministers Roland Koch and Christian Wulff have also reiterated their support for Ms Merkel.
Barroso sees German "fear and doubt"
Meanwhile, the German election deadlock received further apprehensive comments from Brussels, as European commission president Jose Manuel Barroso compared the general mood in the country to the malaise in France and the Netherlands, surrounding their 'no' votes to the EU constitution.
In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Mr Barroso said that the result of the German elections pointed to a general climate of "fear" and "doubt" – comparable to the mood that had contributed to the failure of the French and Dutch referendums.
The commission president slammed EU leaders who in the aftermath of the French and Dutch referendums had reacted with anti-globalist stances.
"right-wing populism, which is against European integration, is as dangerous as left-wing populism, which condemns globalisation", he said.
Mr Barroso repeated his call on Berlin politicians to form a stable government as soon as possible.
"Germany is the economically most important country in Europe. When Germany does well, Europe as a whole profits from that", he said.