Conservative leader Angela Merkel will become Germany's first female chancellor under the terms of a power-sharing agreement that would end Social Democrat Gerhard Schroeder's seven years in office, Social Democratic officials said yesterday.
But Schroeder's party extracted a high price for his backing down from demands to continue in office: they would get eight seats in the Cabinet, compared to six for Merkel's group, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The deal was approved by party leadership committees on both sides, party officials said. They must still be approved by party conferences and pass a vote in parliament once formal coalition negotiations are completed; parliament must meet by Oct. 18, but might not actually vote until next month.
Under the terms of the agreement, the Social Democrats would head the foreign, finance, labor, justice, health, transport, environment and development ministries.
Merkel's Christian Democrats and their Bavaria-only allies, the Christian Social Union (CSU), would get the defense, interior, agriculture, families and education portfolios. The CSU leader, Edmund Stoiber, would become economy minister. Other than that, officials did not say who would occupy which ministerial post.
Such a coalition would create a mixed government of left and right that some fear would be unable to take decisive, potentially unpopular measures to cut the burden Germany's welfare state imposes on businesses and job creation. It also raises questions of whether it can last the full four-year term of parliament, or if it will fall apart if the two former sets of opponents can't get along.
Schroeder's future was not immediately clear. Asked whether he would announce his withdrawal from politics, his spokesman, Bela Anda, replied: "We will see what the day brings."
The agreement would end a three-week standoff that began when voters ousted Schroeder's ruling coalition of Social Democrats and Greens on Sept. 18 but failed to give a majority to Merkel's preferred center-right coalition.
That forced the Social Democrats and her Christian Democrats to seek a power-sharing deal across the left-right divide.
Merkel forced Schroeder to drop his demand to be chancellor, saying that as head of the party with the largest number of seats, the job belonged to her. She would be the first woman to lead Germany and the first person from the formerly communist east to hold the job.
But she would see her ability to push through her agenda to reform the stagnating economy limited by sharing extensive power with her labor-backed former opponents, the Social Democrats.
Merkel and Stoiber met briefly with Schroeder and his party chief Franz Muentefering in a third high-level meeting after running the preliminary deal past party officials early yesterday. They were to consult further with party officials and hold separate press conferences at 2:30pm.
Parliament must convene by Oct. 18 but is not obliged to vote immediately on a new chancellor, if coalition talks are still ongoing.
Merkel's forces have 226 votes in the 614-seat parliament, while the Social Democrats have 222. A coalition needs 308 seats for a majority.
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