BERLIN, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- The German Free Democratic Party (FDP) has expressed its interest on Thursday in nominating the next German Finance Minister to succeed Wolfgang Schaeuble in a prospective "Jamaica coalition", to be formed by Chancellor Angela Merkel.
It was "undeniable" that the finance ministry in particular was a "very central government institution", FDP vice president Katja Suding told the public broadcaster ZDF.
Should the FDP enter a coalition with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Christian Social Union (CSU) and Greens (Gruene), it would want to obtain such central positions in order to be able to have a recognizable impact on legislation, Suding said.
Suding, however, warned that several obstacles needed to be cleared before the four parties could work together.
Aside from differences between the FDP and Greens in their approach to health policy, she hereby singled out the CSU's demand for a fixed upper limit on the number of refugees admitted to Germany each year as a potential stumbling block in negotiations.
"I would like to know what the CSU means by an upper limit," Suding said, urging the party to produce a concrete policy concept.
By contrast, FDP secretary general Nicola Beer was less pessimistic about the prospect of her party cooperating with the CSU on migration.
Speaking to Hanover-based median group Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland on Thursday, Beer said that she could envision a compromise between the FDP and Merkel's CDU/CSU bloc on the subject of a refugee cap. While the FDP rejected a rigid numerical limit, it shared the bloc's concern that Germany's capacity to integrate foreigners was not boundless.
The party therefore proposed a "three columns" model which distinguished between political and religious asylum, temporary protection for displaced people and refugees, and regular immigration based on a Canadian-inspired points system.
In the meanwhile, Green party leader Cem Oezdemir reiterated his opposition to the CDU/CSU bloc's plans for an annual limit on the number of refugees.
Oezdemir was cited by the Funke media group with a warning to the other parties involved not to enter negotiations on the shape of a "Jamaica" coalition with extreme demands.
CDU/CSU bloc politician and Member of the European Parliament Manfred Weber responded to Oezdemir's comments by urging the Greens to be more flexible in their approach to migration.
Weber hereby criticized what he viewed as the party's long-standing refusal to allow for more states to be categorized as safe countries-of-origin to which failed asylum seekers could be deported.
