מנהיגי גרמניה-לא הלעלות

מנהיגיה הבכירים ביותר של גרמניה מתכנסים לוועידת פסגה היום (ה', 6.10.05) במטרה למצוא פתרון, מה שנעשה כבר שבועיים וחצי, לשאלה מי יוביל את המדינה, כשתקוותה של השמרנית אנג'לה מרקל היא כי קנצלר ג'ררד שרדר יוותר על משרתו הבכירה.

שרדר ופרנץ מואנטפרינג, ישב ראש הדמוקרטים הסציאלים
Schroeder and Franz Muentefering, the chairman of the chancellor's Social Democrats, were expected to meet Thursday evening with Merkel and her fellow conservative leader Edmund Stoiber.

The four leaders and senior aides agreed to the summit at a meeting Wednesday that both sides indicated brought progress toward a new government. Neither, however, backed off competing claims to the chancellery.

Ahead of the summit, the Social Democrats, or SPD, Merkel's Christian Democratic Union and Stoiber's Bavaria-only Christian Social Union were holding separate leadership meetings.

Prospects of a quick resolution were unclear. Senior Christian Democrat Dieter Althaus said the summit could be continued Friday morning if necessary.

Another senior conservative, Christian Wulff, told reporters that his side's demand for the chancellery and the parliament president's job was "not negotiable." The latter post, which traditionally goes to the strongest group in parliament, has featured in speculation over how Schroeder's party could be persuaded to back down.

"I believe that we will have clarity this evening that the SPD is no longer insisting on Gerhard Schroeder's chancellorship," conservative lawmaker Wolfgang Bosbach told Suedwestrundfunk radio. "I believe that what is most important for him now is to get off his high horse without losing face."

Social Democratic leaders, however, would not comment on how the power struggle might be resolved.

"We will know more this evening," Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, a deputy party leader, told reporters.

Lawmaker Andrea Nahles stuck to her party's line of recent days, telling NDR radio that "Gerhard Schroeder should remain chancellor."

The two big parties have been forced toward a so-called "grand coalition" because voters ousted Schroeder's seven-year government of Social Democrats and Greens on Sept. 18 but also denied the conservatives a majority for a center-right coalition. Both sides failed to recruit smaller parties to eke out a majority.

Party leaders say Germany, Europe's biggest economy, needs a stable government quickly to tackle high unemployment and slow growth _ and to support the country's role as the European Union's largest member.

Merkel says she, as the leader of the strongest group in parliament, should be chancellor. Her conservative group has 226 seats in the 614-seat lower house of parliament, four more than the Social Democrats.

Conservatives have insisted that Schroeder's party back off its claim to keep him as chancellor before entering talks on forming a coalition.

While Schroeder has signaled he would step down if his party tells him to, the Social Democrats have stuck to their claim that he should lead any new government after he led them to a better-than-expected election result. They insist on equal treatment in a coalition.

Schroeder said the sounding-out talks Wednesday, the third such meeting, had shown "there is a basis for a 'grand coalition."'

Merkel, who would be Germany's first female chancellor, said she was "more optimistic than pessimistic" after Wednesday's talks, which she said had gone "very successfully."