September 15, 2008	Monday	Ramazan 14, 1429

BERLIN: Germany’s two main parties are pondering new tie-ups with the Greens and a liberal party after next year’s election, to try to avoid a repeat of the current uneasy “grand coalition”, reports said on Sunday.

The rise of a new Left party has changed the political landscape in Europe’s largest economy, forcing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and her junior coalition partners, the Social Democrats (SPD), to consider different link-ups.

Surveys show that neither the duo of Merkel’s CDU and her preferred partner, the liberal Free Democrats (FDP), nor the left-wing tandem of SPD and Greens would be able to win a clear majority in the 2009 poll.

Der Spiegel weekly said Merkel had told the FDP she would seek a first-ever “Jamaica” pact of CDU, Greens and FDP on the federal level, if liberals and Christian Democrats fail to muster a majority. The Jamaica reference comes from the colours on Jamaica’s flag reflecting those of the parties involved.

Both CDU and FDP denied such a pact existed, but the report sparked vivid reactions across the political spectrum, highlighting the competition for new coalitions in Germany.—Reuters