In Chancellor Kohl's written response to the letter, he declines a personal meeting with Lafontaine. Kohl did emphasize that negotiations between the Coalition and the SPD should be resumed as quickly as possible, but he only offered to set up a meeting between Lafontaine and Finance Minister Waigel in the next few days. Kohl also rejected Lafontaine's demand that the coalition make concrete suggestions before the talks are resumed. In an initial reaction to Kohl's letter, the SPD has said its members must discuss whether there is any sense now in resuming the talks at all. The SPD had broken off the talks because of the government's policies regarding coal mining.
Recession continues in construction industry Bonn.
The German construction industry is an another year of recession, according to the employers' association. The industry expects to have to cut another 74,000 jobs. President of the association, Franz, complained especially of a fall-off of construction investments in the East. He also said that, besides the consequences of an economic downturn, German construction companies also had to deal with increasing competition from low-wage companies from abroad. The Bundestag held a special sitting this afternoon to discuss the situation of the construction industry.