Merkel fails to win Greens' support
(AP)
Updated: 2005-09-23 20:55

Opposition leader Angela Merkel failed Friday to persuade the Greens party to join talks on forming a coalition, closing another avenue for Germany to escape its postelection stalemate.

The center-right opposition edged Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats in Sunday's parliamentary vote but fell short of a majority for its program of accelerated economic reforms.

Merkel held talks on Friday morning with Greens leaders to sound out whether they could team up with her conservatives and the pro-business Free Democrats.

But the Greens declined an invitation to hold more detailed discussions because of policy differences.

"The differences are very big," Merkel told reporters after the talks. "I would have liked to have spoken more in detail about where we overlap, but the Greens have a different wish."

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