(Angus Reid Global Scan) - Support for Germany's Christian-Democratic Union (CSU) and Bavarian Christian-Social Party (CSU) remained steady for the third consecutive week, according to a poll by Infratest-Dimap. 42 per cent of respondents would vote for the alliance in next month's federal election.

The governing Social Democratic Party (SPD) of chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is second with 31 per cent, followed by the Left Party (Linke)—which merges the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and the Electoral Alternative for Labour and Social Justice (WASG)—with nine per cent, the Green Party (Grune) with eight per cent, and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) with seven per cent.

On Jul. 1, Schroeder deliberately lost a no-confidence motion in the Federal Diet after a 151-296 vote, with 148 abstentions. A federal election has been scheduled for Sept. 18. The CDU has named Angela Merkel as its chancellor candidate. Germany has never had a female head of government.

The FDP is considered as the most likely coalition partner for the CDU-CSU alliance. Support for the combined political organizations is at 49 per cent, while the prospective total for the SPD, Grune and Linke is 48 per cent.

Yesterday, the German Press Agency (DPA) revealed the contents of a letter sent by Merkel to several European politicians. The CDU leader calls on the recipients—who include the prime ministers of France, the Netherlands and Italy—to oppose the accession of Turkey into the European Union (EU) because it "would strain the EU politically, economically and socially, and endanger the European integration process."

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