BERLIN (AP):
CONSERVATIVE LEADER Angela Merkel will have only limited personal power as chancellor in a government of Germany's main right-and left-wing parties, leaders on both sides said as they prepared yesterday for coalition talks.
Meanwhile, the head of the largest opposition party in the new German parliament accused Merkel of dashing hopes of "real political change" through her deal with outgoing Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats, and forecast her government will be short-lived.
Merkel, 51, took a big step toward becoming Germany's first female chancellor on Monday when her conservatives reached a power-sharing deal with Schroeder's party three weeks after inconclusive parliamentary elections that gave neither side a majority.
In return, the Social Democrats got eight of the 14 federal ministries and a promise from Merkel to drop disputed social and labour reforms, and insist they will have an equal say in the government's direction.
Social Democrat chairman Franz Muentefering said that while a chancellor's right to set the government's course was anchored in the constitution, it was "not realistic" for Merkel to use it.
"Whoever does that in a coalition knows that the coalition is finished," Muentefering said on ZDF television. "There has to be fair cooperation. Everything important must be agreed. We are equals and that will also be true in this coalition - if it comes about."
Senior conservatives acknowledged her authority would be limited, but said there would be cases where she would take the initiative.
"That the chancellor sets the course in a coalition with equally strong partners is only possible in very small doses," said Edmund Stoiber, who will lead the coalition talks for the conservatives alongside Merkel. "Either we can do it together, or it must be laid to rest."
"Angela Merkel, of course, is responsible for the general direction," Wolfgang Bosbach, a senior conservative lawmaker, said on n-tv television. "That does not mean that she will take decisions over the heads of the Cabinet, but that as chancellor she will take the political initiative."
