BERLIN, Sept. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said on Sunday that his party and the opposition Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) should set up a coalition first and then discuss the chancellorship.

    "In politics you sit down and work out a platform for a coalition first. Later you work out the personnel questions," Schroeder told the German TV ARD.

    He said that he would do everything to ensure that a grand coalition can be formed between his Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the CDU/CSU, softening his claim to the chancellorship.

    Neither the SPD nor the CDU/CSU won a majority in Sunday's general election needed to form a new government. However, both Schroeder and Merkel claim the chancellorship and mandate to form a new government.

    Schroeder has suggested that he would withdraw the claim of chancellorship if Merkel does so or they share the chancellorship on a rotating basis.

    The CDU/CSU, with 35.2 percent of the vote, has sought to form a coalition government with the Green Party, which is currently the junior partner of the SPD. But the Greens rejected it.

    The Free Democratic Party (FDP), the coalition partner of the CDU/CSU, has refused to cooperate with the SPD which won 34.3 percent of the vote.

    The only option is a grand coalition of the SPD and the CDU/CSU as they both rejected cooperation with the Left Party.

    The German tabloid newspaper, Bild, which has the biggest circulation in Germany, reported on Sunday that Schroeder is ready to make concessions in talks with the CDU/CSU.

    The newspaper quoted SPD sources as saying that Schroeder will agree to form a coalition first. The two may share the chancellory power on rotation. Enditem