Edmund Stoiber - the conservative challenger to the SPD's Gerhard Schroeder in Sunday's German elections - has put out strong feelers to the liberal FDP to join a coalition with him.

Stoiber's wooing of FDP leader Guido Westerwelle comes as two latest opinion polls in Germany suggest that the present government coalition of SPD and Greens is running neck-and-neck with a possible Conservative/FDP combination.

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In a joint interview with Westerwelle, published in the latest edition of Stern magazine, Stoiber says the two leaders would make a "good team".

Westerwelle: Playing hard to get

He adds that he would find it "interesting" to have Westerwelle take on an "important function" in any government he might form.

But Stoiber's attempts to get the FDP to commit itself to a coalition with the CDU/CSU ahead of Sunday seem to fall on stony ground in the Stern interview.

Westerwelle says his main aim is still to boost his party's profile.

"We want to prevent the Greens and the (reformed communist) PDS from having any participation in government, by getting 18% of the votes for the FDP", he says. "It's not enough for a few faces to change, we need the policies to change".

The interview was pre-released by Stern on the day two new polls suggest Sunday's election will be a very close race.

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Germany's Forsa polling organisation puts the SPD/Greens on 47%, with the opposition one point behind on 46%.

The Allensbach Institute has the opposition in front, with around 47%, against the government coalition on just over 44%.

The trend in the polls over the past week has been to show Schroeder's government coalition edging in front. Correspondents say that while the Allensbach figures will give Stoiber new hope that he can still unseat Schroeder, the organisation does have a history of putting Stoiber's support higher than other polls.

The real alternative to the SPD/Greens is Conservative/FDP... the FDP is our potential ally

Edmund Stoiber

In their joint interview Stoiber certainly tries his best to carve out common ground between himself and Westerwelle.

"We want as many votes as possible for change as well", he says, picking up Westerwelle's theme. "The real alternative to the SPD/Greens is Conservative/FDP... the FDP is our potential ally".

Stoiber continues: "The voters don't just want to vote FDP, they want to know who the FDP will form a coalition with."

Later, Stoiber speaks of the "outstanding combination" he and Westerwelle make.

There'll be no blank cheque from the FDP for any party before the election... because then we would not be able to achieve our goal, a change of policies

Guido Westerwelle

"It would be interesting for me to have him in an important function in my government... we would be a good team... we're well prepared for problem-free cooperation."

But despite the charm offensive, Westerwelle remains unmoved. "There'll be no blank cheque from the FDP for any party before the election .. because then we would not be able to achieve our goal, a change of policies."

Commentators see this as a risky strategy however, with the danger that FDP support will decline without a clear commitment to a coalition.

And any further decline could cause irreparable damage to Edmund Stoiber's chances of being the next German Chancellor.

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