BBC Online :
Germany’s Social Democrats are under pressure to reconsider an alliance with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives and form a coalition government.
SPD leader Martin Schulz is due to meet President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who is holding talks to break the impasse. Mr Schulz has refused to enter into a coalition with the Christian Democrats.
The deadlock follows the collapse of talks between the Christian Democrats, the Free Democrats and the Greens.
Some members of the centre-left SPD are calling on Mr Schulz to change his mind and form a “grand coalition” with the conservative CDU/CSU bloc.
The leader of the party’s conservative wing, lawmaker Johannes Kahrs, urged Mr Schulz to keep an open mind during the talks with Mr Steinmeier, Bild newspaper reports.
The paper also says that German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, the party’s former leader, favoured a resumed coalition. The SPD, which had governed with Mrs Merkel since 2013, said it would go into opposition following the 24 September election, when the party had its worst election result since 1949.
Germany’s Social Democrats are under pressure to reconsider an alliance with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives and form a coalition government.
SPD leader Martin Schulz is due to meet President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who is holding talks to break the impasse. Mr Schulz has refused to enter into a coalition with the Christian Democrats.
The deadlock follows the collapse of talks between the Christian Democrats, the Free Democrats and the Greens.
Some members of the centre-left SPD are calling on Mr Schulz to change his mind and form a “grand coalition” with the conservative CDU/CSU bloc.
The leader of the party’s conservative wing, lawmaker Johannes Kahrs, urged Mr Schulz to keep an open mind during the talks with Mr Steinmeier, Bild newspaper reports.
The paper also says that German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, the party’s former leader, favoured a resumed coalition. The SPD, which had governed with Mrs Merkel since 2013, said it would go into opposition following the 24 September election, when the party had its worst election result since 1949.
