Tensions within Germany's ruling centre-right coalition showed no sign of abating yesterday as Social Democrats and Greens blamed one another for the government's uncertain start in office.
The chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroder, urged the Greens to adapt their policies more closely to the views of the majority of Germans and to pay less attention to "marginal issues".
Green leaders responded by accusing the Chancellor of abandoning agreed positions without consulting colleagues. They also called for more solidarity within the government.
Greens feel that they have borne an unfair burden of blame for last week's conservative victory in a state election, and they resent the Chancellor's failure to support ministers when public opinion turns against them.
The environmentalist party has seen its two most important policy initiatives (on nuclear power and a new citizenship law for Germany) abandoned during the past month after Mr Schroder caved in to pressure from interest groups, the media and the conservative opposition.
Mr Schroder infuriated his coalition partners last week by declaring that the Greens needed "more Fischer and less Trittin", a reference to the Foreign Minister, Mr Joschka Fischer, and the Environment Minister, Mr Jurgen Trittin.
Mr Trittin, who is a leader of the pragmatic left within the Greens, was humiliated last month when the Chancellor publicly retreated from a proposal to ban the reprocessing of nuclear waste by the end of this year.
He insisted yesterday that Mr Schroder's indecisiveness was more damaging to the government's image than his own radical policies.
"When agreements have a shelf-life of hours, it's hard to lead a coalition successfully," he said.
Mr Trittin admitted there was an atmosphere of mistrust within the government because of Mr Schroder's practice of criticising cabinet colleagues in public. And he insisted that, despite last month's setback, the government remained committed to closing Germany's 19 nuclear power stations.
Greens hope that the first nuclear power plants will close in the year 2002. But Mr Schroder warned yesterday against making any precise prediction of how long the process will take. Insisting that the final decision on the issue would be his own, the Chancellor said that nuclear power could only be phased out with the agreement of the power companies.
"We don't need less consensus, we need more consensus," he said.
