Angela Merkel's conservatives and the rival Social Democrats, or SPD, have been in fierce opposition over the past four decades. When both camps endorsed the grand coalition treaty, they said they wouldn't start a loving marriage, but rather a pragmatic working relationship.

That working relationship came to a standstill, however, when Social Democrats and conservatives Wednesday and Thursday fought over the country's budget. Merkel's Christian Democrats, or CDU, accused the coalition partner of maneuvering the country into a financial disaster. The SPD responded the conservatives should leave campaign rhetoric out of the coalition.

The cause of friction is the country's 2006 budget. Both sides agreed to take on $48 billion in new debts, nearly double the $27 billion the government plans to spend in that year. The extra money is needed to pay interests and spark economic growth. The government will have to explain that in writing, however, as Germany's constitution only allows such a move if a "general disturbance of the economic balance" is given.

Incoming SPD Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck says just that is the case, while the conservatives argue it's the rival's fault.

"It's obvious that our 2006 household has to be seen as the closing balance of seven years of SPD and Greens on government," CDU finance expert Michael Meister said.

Joachim Poss, a leading SPD finance expert, called Meier's comments "bad style."

The nervous reactions from both camps are understandable. Germany is virtually bankrupt: It has more people receiving social welfare checks and unemployed than any other European nation.

Its current deficit is at more than $1.7 trillion, and for 2005, Germany is set to breach the European Union's stability and growth pact for the fourth consecutive time. The pact requires members to keep budget deficit below 3 percent of the gross domestic product. Merkel has argued she wants to meet the pact's requirements by 2007, but she will have to save an additional $41 billion to do that.

The opposition argues, however, the coalition could have saved much more money as early as 2006, and has threatened to file suit with Germany's highest court.

"The grand coalition can do much, but it can't simply announce it will break the constitution," Guido Westerwelle, the top man of the Free Democrats, said Thursday. "More money could have been saved."

Winfried Fuest, senior finance expert at the German Economy Institute Cologne, said balancing the budget as early as this or next year would have been very hard to do.

"That would have needed more cruelties such as massive cuts to the social welfare system," he told United Press International earlier this week. "That obviously didn't fly with the SPD. But to me it's incredible that some social benefits were even boosted."

Despite current criticism, a suit filed with the highest court is unlikely. The opposition would need at least 205 of the 614 lawmakers for such a move, but it only has 166. It would need to recruit the extra votes from inside the coalition, and that's not going to happen, observers say.

But even if no suit is filed, the looming threat might be the only aim the Free Democrats want to achieve, Christian Pestalozza, constitutional law expert at Berlin's Free University, Thursday told UPI in a telephone interview.

"I suspect the opposition wants to get a bit of press as well after the coalition parties dominated the news in recent weeks," he said. "And that's totally fine: with their threats, they are at least pushing the government to check if they are on the right course."

All rights reserved. � 2005 United Press International. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by United Press International.. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of United Press International.

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