GERMANY: The German Social Democrat who took over from Mr Gerhard Schröder as party leader last week has called on the party to unite behind Schröder's strict economic reform drive.
"None of the reforms passed can be undone or altered . . . This country must modernise so that it remains a wealthy country with a welfare state at its foundation," Mr Franz Muentefering told a party conference at the weekend.
But Mr Muentefering, a trusted Schröder ally who is far more popular in the Social Democrats (SPD), appeared at odds with Schröder and Economy Minister, Mr Wolfgang Clement, over a new tax on firms whose training schemes are judged to be sub-standard.
"The tax will go through," he said of the new levy, which is backed by SPD leaders, their junior coalition partner the Greens and trade unions who have criticised many of Mr Schröder's reforms for being too business-friendly and a burden on low-income groups.
Mr Clement wants to avoid all tax rises and Mr Schröder said on Saturday the government would reconsider and drop plans for the tax if businesses responded by improving training standards.
Germany's DGB unions federation, a traditional bedrock of SPD support, had seized on Mr Schröder's resignation as party chairman to urge the government to tone down the "Agenda 2010" programme of reforms aimed at cutting unemployment, boosting economic growth and streamlining a creaking health system.
Mr Schröder did not mention his recent surprise move in his speech to some 450 party members at Saturday's conference in the western town of Bochum, but instead urged his centre-left party to get behind a drive for an affordable welfare system.