German Greens to talk with Conservatives

Germany's Greens have agreed to hold talks on forming a new government with Angela Merkel's Conservatives after a leading member of Ms Merkel's party called a link with the environmentalist group "a realistic option".

The Greens, an ecologist and pacifist party that grew out of the protest movement of the 1960s, said they would meet Ms Merkel's Christian Democrats and Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) tomorrow, although party chiefs said much separated the two camps.

"We are extremely sceptical," Greens co-leader Claudia Roth told journalists yesterday after a meeting with their current senior coalition partners, the Social Democrats (SPD).

Neither Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's centre-left alliance nor Ms Merkel's centre-right alternative won a parliamentary majority in Sunday's election, meaning the conservatives must join with the SPD or they must each find a new partner.

The apparent softening of the Greens' stance comes a day after their symbolic leader and German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said he planned to step back from the frontline of the party. Mr Fischer had ruled out joining a coalition with Ms Merkel.

The "Jamaica" coalition - which refers to the unlikely marriage of the conservative CDU/CSU, their traditional partners the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) and the Greens - is the new buzzword in German politics.

The name comes from the black-yellow-green colours of the party banners - the same as those of the Jamaican flag.

Wolfgang Schaeuble, deputy leader of the CDU in parliament, insisted in more than one newspaper interview yesterday that "Jamaica" was possible given there were no easy solutions to the political stalemate.

"Black-Yellow-Green is not a tactical ploy, but a realistic option," he told Handelsblatt business daily. "A grand coalition would be the alternative and far less desirable," he added, referring to a CDU/CSU partnership with the SPD.

The CDU/CSU will hold talks with the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) today. The SPD has invited the Conservatives to discuss ways out of the stalemate later today.

The SPD, which has insisted Mr Schroeder remain chancellor even though his party was edged by Ms Merkel, has sought to woo the FDP to form a red-yellow-green "traffic light" combination, although FDP leader Guido Westerwelle has ruled this out and refused to enter talks.

"We discussed how we would come to a traffic light," SPD chief Franz Muentefering told reporters after his meeting with Greens leaders. "We are aware that we need a third party."

The Greens said any link with the FDP would be problematic, spelling out key differences over nuclear power and social welfare reform.

Analysts still believe a "grand coalition" of SPD and CDU/CSU is the most likely scenario following Sunday's surprise stalemate vote.