Merkel's party woos potential coalition partner

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) may agree on tax rises in order to form a coalition government with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), CDU officials suggested Wednesday.

Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said in an interview with the newspaper Die Zeit that his CDU party might compromise on the issue of tax rises, a topic that has seen different opinions from the two biggest political parties during the election campaign, Xinhua reported.

"Let's wait and see how the talks go," Schaeuble said. He called for swift coalition talks so that a new government can be formed to make important decisions in European politics.

Norbert Barthle, another senior member of parliament for the CDU, also told media that he could imagine raising the top tax rates in exchange for tax cuts at the bottom.

The SPD sees differently on major domestic issues from Merkel's CDU and its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU), which may lead to tough and long coalition negotiation talks.

The SPD has stressed greater social justice and wants to raise taxes on incomes above 100,000 euros to 49 percent from 42 percent. However, Merkel said such tax hike plans would risk spoiling the good economic situation in the country.

The centre-left SPD, which took 25.7 percent of votes in Sunday's election, will hold a party conference in Berlin Friday and try to reach consensus on the coalition issue.