GERMANY said yesterday it would agree to the inclusion of an employment chapter in the revised Maastricht Treat, but ruled out and job creation programme funded by the European Union.
Addressing the Bundestag, the Foreign Minister, Mr Klaus Kinkel, sought to reduce expectations in advance of next week's EU summit in Amsterdam, which could be overshadowed by a disagreement between France and Germany over the "stability pact" governing the euro.
Germany's climb down over the employment chapter will remove one potential stumbling block in Amsterdam, but Bonn remains isolated in its opposition to practical EU wide measures to create jobs. The German government believes better coordination of employment policies on the part of EU members is possible -without transferring new powers to Brussels.
"We do not want any unaccountable, unfinanceable or expensive spending programmes. An improved coordination of national measures on a European level can take us further. On these terms, the German government will agree to an employment chapter," Mr Kinkel said.
The opposition Social Democrats and Greens accused the government of being isolated in its attempt to water down the job creation proposals formulated by the Dutch Presidency.
Bonn earlier denied a report that it will seek to delay the introduction of the euro by one year, insisting that it remained committed to both the timetable and the stability criteria. The Finance Minister, Mr Theo Waigel, repeated yesterday that there was no question of renegotiating the EMU stability pact.
Party leaders from Germany's centre right coalition government again failed to resolve differences over next year's budget at a meeting in Bonn yesterday.
Dr Helmut Kohl's Christian Democrats have proposed plugging a multi billion pound gap in, the 1998 estimates by bringing, forward elements of a planned tax reform. But the small Liberal Free Democrats reject the proposal and have threatened to walk out of the government rather than agree to tax rises.
