German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and conservative challenger Angela Merkel held talks that both sides called helpful -- but they did not resolve their dispute over who should be the country's next leader.
Merkel came out of Wednesday's meeting at the Reichstag parliament building looking relaxed and describing the talks as "constructive and serious," while Franz Muentefering, head of Schroeder's Social Democratic Party, called the preliminary discussions "fruitful."
Both sides said they focused on policy, but had to leave their most serious dispute -- over who should be the next chancellor -- for further talks in the coming weeks. The two sides are scheduled to meet again next Wednesday.
Germany's stock market, however, seemed willing to ignore the political stalemate and hit a new high for the year.
Germany's Sept. 18 election resulted in both Schroeder's government of Social Democrats and Greens and Merkel's conservatives falling short of a majority in the Bundestag, or lower house. The two sides have had to turn to each other to try to form a majority across the left-right divide.
Merkel's Christian Democratic Union and their allied Bavaria-only sister party, the Christian Social Union, won 225 seats to 222 for the Social Democrats, with one further seat yet to be decided. She says that gives her the right to be Germany's first female chancellor.
Both sides stressed Wednesday's meeting was only a prelude to decide whether full-fledged coalition negotiations could be opened.
"We held exploratory talks, we discussed policy," Muentefering said of the two-hour meeting. "All personnel questions still need to be clarified, but we did not discuss them today."
Merkel said that "it is very clear what is still dividing us and that is the conservatives' claim to the chancellorship, but anyone expecting a resolution today would have had false expectations from these exploratory talks."
The two sides discussed policy differences on such thorny questions as reforming Germany's labor market and how to reduce its budget deficit.
Schroeder, standing next to Muentefering, said that the preliminary nature of the talks meant that the chancellorship question would be answered later.
"We are exploring the question of whether full-fledged negotiations can start," Schroeder said. "In such a phase, it's a political mistake to pose ultimatums."
Both sides have said another round of preparatory talks will be held next Wednesday. Before that, voters in the eastern city of Dresden turn out on Sunday in the last balloting of the election -- a vote that was put off because of a candidate's death. Pollsters say the delayed vote will decide one last seat, but likely will not alter the stalemate that emerged from the election.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
OVERHAUL: The move would likely mark the end to Voice of America, which was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda and operated in nearly 50 languages The parent agency of Voice of America (VOA) on Friday said it had issued termination notices to more than 639 more staff, completing an 85 percent decrease in personnel since March and effectively spelling the end of a broadcasting network founded to counter Nazi propaganda. US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) senior advisor Kari Lake said the staff reduction meant 1,400 positions had been eliminated as part of US President Donald Trump’s agenda to cut staffing at the agency to a statutory minimum. “Reduction in Force Termination Notices were sent to 639 employees at USAGM and Voice of America, part of a
Canada and the EU on Monday signed a defense and security pact as the transatlantic partners seek to better confront Russia, with worries over Washington’s reliability under US President Donald Trump. The deal was announced after a summit in Brussels between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. “While NATO remains the cornerstone of our collective defense, this partnership will allow us to strengthen our preparedness ... to invest more and to invest smarter,” Costa told a news conference. “It opens new opportunities for companies on both sides of the
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image
RSS