Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) meet in the eastern city of Leipzig today to crown Mr Gerhard Schroder, the popular prime minister of Lower Saxony, as their candidate to challenge Chancellor Helmut Kohl in September's federal election. The party is also expected to pass an election manifesto which Mr Schroder has described as the most pro-market document in the Social Democrats' history.
Opinion polls put a possible coalition of Social Democrats and Greens 10 points ahead of Dr Kohl's centre-right coalition, and a fresh outbreak of bickering inside the government has damaged its chances even further.
Dr Kohl, who is on a fasting holiday in Austria, attempted this week to silence sniping at the Christian Democrats (CDU) parliamentary leader, Mr Wolfgang Schauble, by their Bavarian allies in the Christian Social Union (CSU). The 68-year-old Chancellor has named Mr Schauble as his chosen successor, but the CSU insist that they should have a say in who succeeds Dr Kohl when he steps down.
Mr Schauble drew fire from his other coalition partners in the Liberal Free Democrats, as well as from the CSU, when he suggested the introduction of a "green tax" on fuel. But most analysts view the latest squabbles as evidence of nervousness within the government camp and an eagerness on the part of the CSU to distance itself from Dr Kohl.
Bavaria votes in a state election on September 13th, two weeks before the federal election.
Tensions within the ruling coalition are mirrored by sharp divisions between the SPD and the Greens over foreign policy and energy tax. The Greens have promised to triple the price of petrol within 10 years and to cut the German army in half while pressing for the dissolution of NATO.
Mr Schroder, who makes much of his reputation as a business-friendly politician who gets things done, has dismissed such policies as absurd and condemned the Greens as being unfit to govern.
He insisted yesterday that the SPD had moved in his pro-market direction in its election manifesto and said the only area of dispute between them concerned a proposal to penalise companies that fail to take on enough apprentices.
Mr Schroder's spectacular election victory in his home state last month made his selection as the party's candidate a foregone conclusion. But many traditional Social Democrats remain suspicious of the telegenic candidate, whom they regard as too eager to abandon long-held policies.
The role of the SPD chairman, Mr Oskar Lafontaine, could be crucial in maintaining party discipline behind Mr Schroder, who is more inclined to develop policy in front of the television cameras than at party meetings.
Berlin began warming up for the 50th anniversary of the Allied airlift in June by paying tribute yesterday to the US general who organised the year-long aerial supply of West Berlin at the start of the Cold War.
The Berlin Mayor, Mr Eberhard Diepgen, laid a wreath at Tempelhof Airport to mark the 20th anniversary of the death of Gen Lucius Clay, the post-war US military governor who became a hero in Berlin and is known as "the father of the airlift".
The city government has invited 900 of the Allied pilots and crew members back to Berlin for celebrations in June, and President Clinton is expected to visit the city in May to honour airlift veterans.
The airlifting of all the food, fuel and medicines that West Berlin needed to overcome the Soviet blockade was a crucial moment at the start of the Cold War and instantly transformed the Western Allies' role in Germany from conqueror to protector.
The aircraft brought coal, fuel, newsprint, medicines, nappies, powdered milk, dehydrated vegetables and even an entire power plant in small pieces. A total of 78 pilots and crew were killed on airlift missions.
The Soviet Union, realising its blockade had failed, reopened land routes on May 12th, 1949, and on September 30th, 1949, the airlift was officially ended.
