GERMANY: The German government has admitted that Chancellor Gerhard Schröder threatened indirectly to resign at a Social Democratic Party meeting on Monday night.
Two newspapers reported that a bad-tempered Mr Schröder clashed openly with senior SPD members at the meeting and said he was fed up with internal dissent in the party.
"The SPD didn't win this election, I did," he snapped, according to reports.
"Whoever thinks they can do this job better should do it." SPD members present described the mood at the meeting as "very depressing", according to Frankfurter Rundschau and Bild.
The pressure has been building on Mr Schröder since his re-election in September. The economy is on the verge of recession, unemployment will soon hit 10 per cent and there is a gaping hole in next year's public finances.
Emergency plans to raise extra revenue by increasing taxes have caused dissent, with senior party members openly contradicting the chancellor.
Mr Schröder said he was not ready to tolerate the "continuous confusion of voices any longer", according to Bild.
The greatest discussion has centred around a proposed wealth tax favoured by two state premiers facing elections in February, but opposed by Mr Schröder.
Mr Franz Münterfering, the SPD parliamentary leader, apparently told the chancellor at Monday's meeting, saying that party members had a right to know what should and shouldn't be discussed publicly.
According to reports, Mr Schröder retorted: "When will we finally realise that no election was ever won with tax hikes?"
Senior SPD politicians admitted yesterday, after hours of denials, that the reports were accurate.
"The chancellor spoke clearly and quietly without raising his voice and he was very well understood," said Mr Wolfgang Clement, the economics minister. SPD leaders earlier dismissed the newspaper stories as "scheming, falsified reporting".
Last week Mr Schröder said he was tired of the "cacophony" of voices within the SPD since the election. It isn't the first time the chancellor has allegedly made resignation threats.
Last year he faced internal revolt and an uncertain parliamentary majority over sending German troops to Afghanistan and was reported to have said that "other people should do this job". Few in Berlin yesterday believed Mr Schröder's threat was to be taken seriously.
Mr Gero Neugebauer, a Berlin-based opinion poll researcher said that any change at the head of the SPD was unlikely. "Mr Schröder is lucky that he has no rivals in the party," he said.
