German Greens pull out of coalition talks with Merkel

Germany's Green party today pulled out of coalition talks with Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), leaving the Chancellor to focus on discussions with the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) in her efforts to form a new government.

The CDU and its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) decided to wind up their discussions with the ecological party as they could not find any common ground in key policy areas necessary to provide a strong foundation for a stable government, CDU general secretary Hermann Groehe said.

The two sides have "substantial differences" on major policy issues and they could not be narrowed down even after more than seven hours of discussions in their second round yesterday.

Alexander Dobridnt, general secretary of the CSU, said the Green party's demand for "massive tax hike" was one of the issues which led to the collapse of the talks.

Their discussions showed that the Green party is not "capable of joining a responsible government," he said.

Green party co-chairperson Claudia Roth said her side rejected a coalition with the two conservative parties in view of sharp differences on a number of policy issues, including treatment of refugees, energy policy, statutory introduction of minimum wages and equal rights for gay and lesbian couples.

This will leave chancellor Merkel with no alternative other than a coalition with the SPD to clinch a third four-year term.

In spite of a resounding victory in the parliamentary election on September 22, the CDU fell five seats short of an absolute majority in the new Bundestag, the lower house of parliament.

Merkel needs a new coalition partner to form a new government after her junior partner in the out-going government, the Free Democratic Party (FDP), failed to re-enter parliament by missing the minimum five per cent of the votes needed.

The SPD, which polled 25.7 per cent of the votes and secured 193 seats in the 631-member Bundestag, is Merkel's preferred partner for a new coalition as an alliance with the Social Democrats can ensure a stable government for the next four years.

The chancellor headed a "grand coalition" during her first term between 2005 and 2009 and opinion polls last week showed that more than 60 per cent of the voters favoured a new edition of the coalition between the CDU and the SPD.