Greens agree to talk to Merkel

GERMANY’S Greens have agreed to hold talks on forming a new government with Angela Merkel’s conservatives after a leading member of Merkel’s party called a link with the environmentalist group “a realistic option”.

The Greens, an ecologist and pacifist party that grew out of the protest movement of the 1960s, said they would meet the Christian Democrats and Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) tomorrow, although party chiefs said much separated the two camps.

Greens co-leader Claudia Roth said: “We are extremely sceptical.”

Neither Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s centre-left alliance nor Merkel’s centre-right alternative won a majority in Sunday’s election, meaning the conservatives must join with Schroeder or they must each find a new partner. The Greens are currently in coalition with Schroeder’s Social Democrats (SPD).

The apparent softening of the Greens’ stance comes a day after their symbolic leader and German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said he planned to step back from the frontline of the party. He had ruled out a coalition with Merkel.

The ‘Jamaica’ coalition - the unlikely marriage of the conservative CDU/CSU, their traditional partners the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) and the Greens - is the new buzzword in German politics. It comes from the black-yellow-green colours of the party banners - the same as those of the Jamaican flag.

The CDU/CSU will hold talks with the FDP on Thursday. The SPD has invited the conservatives to discuss ways out of the stalemate later that day.

Analysts still believe a ‘grand coalition’ of SPD and CDU/CSU is the likely scenario following Sunday’s surprise stalemate vote.

The new parliament must convene by October 18.