Political Crisis,German President Meets Party Leaders To Put End.
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German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is to meet on Tuesday the
leaders of the nation's pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the
environmental Greens in a bid to end the country's political crisis
triggered by the collapse of coalition talks.
The German head of state is to hold talks with FDP chief Christian Lindner and Green Party leaders Simone Peter and Cem Ozdemir to establish whether there is any chance of resurrecting negotiations to forge a new three-way coalition under Chancellor Angela Merkel.
An alliance led by Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and including the Greens and FDP was the only coalition option the chancellor had after September's inconclusive election, which resulted in a sharp fall in support for the CDU and their Bavarian-based Christian Social Union (CSU) allies.
Steinmeier has so far rejected calling early elections as way out of the impasse and instead called on the party leaders to reconsider their positions on the coalition negotiations.
Merkel's former coalition partners, the centre-left Social Democrats (SDP), have repeatedly ruled out rejoining a CDU-led alliance, saying they need time to regroup after suffering their worst result since 1949 in September's election.
A former SPD leader and foreign minister, Steinmeier is scheduled to meet SPD chief Martn Schulz on Wednesday to try to convince his old party that it should to reconsider its position.
The German head of state is to hold talks with FDP chief Christian Lindner and Green Party leaders Simone Peter and Cem Ozdemir to establish whether there is any chance of resurrecting negotiations to forge a new three-way coalition under Chancellor Angela Merkel.
An alliance led by Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and including the Greens and FDP was the only coalition option the chancellor had after September's inconclusive election, which resulted in a sharp fall in support for the CDU and their Bavarian-based Christian Social Union (CSU) allies.
Steinmeier has so far rejected calling early elections as way out of the impasse and instead called on the party leaders to reconsider their positions on the coalition negotiations.
Merkel's former coalition partners, the centre-left Social Democrats (SDP), have repeatedly ruled out rejoining a CDU-led alliance, saying they need time to regroup after suffering their worst result since 1949 in September's election.
A former SPD leader and foreign minister, Steinmeier is scheduled to meet SPD chief Martn Schulz on Wednesday to try to convince his old party that it should to reconsider its position.
