BERLIN - Striking German miners were preparing to return to work last night after the Chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl, agreed to slow the pace of planned cuts in government subsidies to the coal industry, Den is Staunton reports. The agreement came after four days of noisy protests in Bonn, during which thousands of miners placed the government quarter under siege.
Union leaders hailed the compromise as a victory but the government insisted that the level of state subsidy to the mines will still be halved by 2005. The level of state support will remain high for the next two years but will drop sharply after 2000.