The German Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroder, held urgent talks last night with his coalition partners in the Greens, amid signs of a serious rift within the centre-left government over nuclear energy.
The Greens are unhappy with a proposal by the Economics Minister, Mr Werner Muller, for a phased withdrawal from nuclear energy under which Germany's last nuclear power station would not close until 2024.
Mr Schroder and Mr Muller are due to meet the heads of Germany's biggest energy companies today to discuss the plan, which would limit the total life of each of the country's 19 nuclear plants to 35 years. This time limit would be enshrined in a public contract, so that it could not be extended if a new government took office.
The energy companies have rejected the proposal as "economically unrealistic", while the Greens argue that the Economics Minister's plan is too generous to the nuclear industry.
"A total life-span of 35 years is a limit that does not meet our expectations," the Green leader, Ms Antje Radcke, said yesterday.
Today's meeting will also be attended by the Environment Minister, Mr Jurgen Trittin, who was obliged yesterday to deny persistent reports that the Chancellor threatened to sack him last week. The two men are also expected to meet representatives of the motor industry to discuss Mr Trittin's proposal that carmakers should be compelled from 2003 to accept and dispose of old cars free of charge.
The Chancellor's alleged threat to sack Mr Trittin came after Mr Schroder's old friend, Volkswagen boss Mr Ferdinand Piech, complained that he did not like the Environment Minister's "tone" during an earlier discussion.
The Chancellor faces more trouble tomorrow when his Finance Minister, Mr Hans Eichel, unveils the main points of his plan to cut the government's budget by DM30 billion. Mr Eichel has ruled out raising income tax, company tax or VAT but he may increase the rate of inheritance tax.
The government will decide today whether to abandon a controversial proposal to oblige employees to top up their state pensions with private schemes. Mr Eichel has pledged to link pensions to the rate of inflation for the next two years. Index-linking unemployment benefit could save a further DM3 billion and selling off 20 embassies and consulates abroad will further top up the state's finances.
Mr Eichel faces the difficult task of cutting government spending without depressing the domestic demand which is so crucial to boosting Germany's economic growth. Mr Schroder faces the more formidable challenge of dispelling the impression, almost universally held among political observers, that he is a telegenic, charming but ineffectual leader of a divided government that has lost all sense of direction.
