The German Chancellor Mr Gerhard Schr÷der has called a confidence vote in the government for Friday alongside a vote on sending German troops to Afghanistan.
News of the vote comes after Mr Schr÷der threatened to resign as Chancellor unless the Social Democrat-Green Party coalition achieved a parliamentary majority in the vote on troop deployment.
The confidence vote turns the screws on at least eight Green Party members and several Social Democrat (SPD) members who say they will vote against sending troops, endangering the government's absolute majority of seven votes in the lower house, the Bundestag.
Mr Schr÷der said "much work is necessary" to convince rebel Green Party and SPD members to vote for military deployment. His announcement of a confidence motion at a meeting of the SPD parliamentary party yesterday was greeted with a "standing ovation", a party spokesman said.
Later, Mr Schr÷der said he made his position clear at a tense 90-minute meeting with the Greens' parliamentary party.
Yesterday's announcement of a confidence vote has "naturally changed the situation", said Ms Kirsten Mⁿller, the Green Party parliamentary leader.
"The vote is no longer a conscience vote, but a vote with consequences for the coalition government," she said. "But I believe that the Chancellor has the confidence of the entire Green Party." Green Party leaders, including the Foreign Minister, Mr Joschka Fischer, have appealed for all members to support the government, but could still face a backlash from leftist members.
The Green Party, with its origins in the pacifist movement, now faces what one leader called its "most difficult decision ever". Supporting Mr Schr÷der will save the government but cost it core support at next year's federal elections. Failure to back the motion would undermine Mr Schr÷der's September 11th pledge of "unlimited solidarity" with the United States and could bring down the government.
The German cabinet passed a plan to deploy up to 3,900 German soldiers to Afghanistan last week. But in recent days it became increasingly likely that a parliamentary majority on army deployment, as required by German law, would only be achieved with support from the opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP). Unsurprisingly, both main opposition parties said they would vote against Friday's confidence motion, piling pressure on rebel Green members to support the government.
The confidence motion will be only the fourth in Germany's post-war history. If the motion fails, Mr Schr÷der could run a minority administration until elections next year or find a new coalition partner.
