Christian Democrat (CDU) leader Angela Merkel today said full coalition talks with the Social Democrats (SPD) cannot proceed unless the SPD acknowledged she was the country's rightful chancellor.
"The precondition is . . . the recognition that we, as the bigger partner, name the chancellor," Christian Democrat (CDU) leader Angela Merkel said after a meeting of the party's leadership in Berlin.
But she said preliminary exploratory talks could in any case take place before full negotiations began.
A week after Ms Merkel's CDU and its sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), narrowly beat Gerhard Schröder's SPD in an unexpectedly tight general election, the rival parties remain at odds over who should lead the country.
Since neither of the main parties won a parliamentary majority with their allies, they have been forced into exploratory talks with each other about forming a "grand coalition".
After a brief meeting last Thursday, they are due to talk again on Wednesday, although both parties are describing the discussions as "exploratory" exchanges rather than full-fledged coalition talks.
Mr Schröder said in an interview yesterday that he supported a coalition with Ms Merkel's party, but he said talks should proceed on substantive issues before the leadership question was tackled.