BERLIN, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Official "Jamaica" coalition negotiations between the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Christian Social Union (CSU), Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Greens are scheduled to commence on Wednesday just over three weeks after Germany's federal elections.
The conservative sister parties CDU and CSU will both meet representatives of the FDP in the morning before holding talks with a Green party delegation later in the day.
The coalition negotiations are widely-anticipated to prove difficult, given the large differences in political outlook between the four parties involved.
CSU leader Horst Seehofer paid his first ever visit to the Green party headquarters on Tuesday night in a bid to build trust.
CDU secretary general Peter Tauber called for the potential coalition partners to put the interests of the country ahead of their own before the start of talks on Wednesday. Tauber warned that although talks would be "very difficult", the parties should think of the importance of their cooperation as a signal for social cohesion in Germany.
In turn, CSU secretary general Andreas Scheuer emphasized that the CDU and CSU would not allow the FDP and Greens to play the two sister parties against each other.
The CDU/CSU faction entered coalition negotiations "well positioned" and "concentrated", Scheuer insisted.
Striking a more conciliatory tone, Green party leader Cem Oezdemir and CDU vice-chairman Volker Bouffier both called on the Jamaica parties to refrain from insisting on red lines and instead enter talks with an open mind.
Nonetheless, the FDP reiterated its demand on Wednesday for a new immigration regime which differentiated clearly between labor migration, political refugees and people displaced by war.
The current system had been "overwhelmed" and needed to be "re-adjusted", Joachim Stamp (FDP), North-Rhine Westphalia's Minister for Integration, told press.
