MOST Germans do not believe Chancellor Helmut Kohl should stand for election again next year, according to a poll taken after he announced he would seek another term.
According to the survey, carried out last Thursday by the Infratest group for WDR regional television, 53 per cent said Dr Kohl should not stand again, 34 per cent said he should and 13 per cent were indifferent or did not respond.
Dr Kohl (67), made the announcement in a television interview, ending months of speculation that, after over 14 years in charge, he might not have the appetite to tackle Germany's mounting economic and social problems in a record fifth term.
Asked who they thought was the best person to tackle the country's current problems, just 25 per cent of the 1,000 people polled named Dr Kohl. Thirty-one per cent came out in favour of Lower Saxony state premier Mr Gerhard Schroder, of the opposition Social Democrats (SPD) and 16 per cent favoured SPD party chairman Mr Oskar Lafontaine.
Meanwhile, Dr Kohl and the French President, Mr Jacques Chirac, are to hold informal talks on European Union and NATO issues over dinner in Bonn on Wednesday, the French leader's office announced yesterday.
The leaders, who meet roughly every six weeks to co-ordinate policies, will discuss EU reform negotiations, progress towards a single European currency, reform of the NATO defence alliance and enlargement of both the EU and NATO, French officials said.
Their meeting will help prepare for summits in Amsterdam and Madrid, which are due to complete a hard-fought overhaul of the European Union's institutions and a reform of NATO leading to the admission of the first former communist central European states.
France and Germany have taken joint positions on many of the issues but face resistance from Britain and neutral EU member-states to their drive to transform the Union in stages into a fully-fledged defence alliance.