Schroeder and Merkel in new round of government talks

Aides to Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and rival Angela Merkel have sounded uncompromising notes on their competing leadership claims as the pair prepare for a second round of talks on forming a new German government.

Today’s exploratory talks, for which the two leaders are being joined by ministers and experts, were expected to focus more on policy than personalities.

“There will be no coalition talks unless it is clear beforehand that Mrs Merkel will be chancellor,” the Christian Democrats’ general secretary, Volker Kauder, told the daily newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

But, he insisted, “there is no ultimatum”. His opposite number in the Social Democrats, Klaus Uwe Benneter, stuck to his party’s often-repeated insistence that “we want to govern with Gerhard Schroeder at the helm and push through as much as possible of our election manifesto”.