国际英语资讯:Merkels CDU, President Steinmeier make appeals to avert German re-elections_时事

国际英语资讯:Merkels CDU, President Steinmeier make appeals to avert German re-elections

Steinmeier has been in and out of several urgent talks with party representatives over the past two days in a bid to overcome the current impasse. Nevertheless, the SPD reiterated once again on Tuesday that it was not available to form another "Grand Coalition" with the CDU and CSU.

SPD parliamentary faction leader Andrea Nahles said on ZDF that it was Merkel, and not her party, which had the mandate to form a government.

Nahles added the SPD would not "shy away" from re-elections, although she also called on the "Jamaica" parties not to impose too much pressure on themselves in terms of time limits as they sought to resolve the situation.

While the current situation was "very difficult", the SPD politician refused to speak of a "crisis."

In this regard, Nahles was seconded by now Parliamentary President Wolfgang Schaeuble who said that the current situation was a "test, but not a state crisis."

Schaeuble further urged German parties to make compromises in order to enable them to form a stable government. Both politicians and voters would be wrong to view such consensus-seeking measures as weakness.

"We all share responsibility for our country," the CDU politician said during the second session of the Federal Parliament since its constitution. He noted that this responsibility extended to Europe and the wider world as well which expected Germany to act as a stabilising factor.