No wage deal, no coalition, Merkel told

Germany’s opposition Social Democrats threw up a new potential obstacle to a ‘grand coalition’ government with Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday ahead of a new round of talks, saying they would insist on a national minimum wage.

Merkel’s conservatives defeated her centre-left rivals in the Sept 22 election, but she needs either the SPD or the Greens as a coalition partner and neither party has shown much desire to join her.

The possibility that talks could take months worries Germany’s European partners, who fear it could delay decisions on measures to fight the eurozone crisis — such as a plan for banking union.