Scharping and girlfriend Countess Kristina Pilati

Claims that the minister used air force planes to visit his girlfriend on the holiday island of Majorca have led to mounting calls for him to resign.

The hearing will continue on Tuesday, focusing on new accusations by opposition politicians that he revealed defence secrets by disclosing the route used by German troops joining the Nato force in Macedonia.

The row adds to the troubles of Gerhard Schroeder's Red-Green coalition, which is already under strain over attempts to find a consensus with the opposition over future immigration policy.

Decisive

Mr Scharping presented the committee with a list of all 349 official flights he had used since he took office in October 1998, saying he had paid for any private flights out of his own pocket.

He said he flew less frequently than his predecessor from the Christian Democrat (CDU) administration, Volker Ruehe, who had taken 361 official flights in 18 months.

A senior politician from Mr Scharping's Social Democrats (SPD), Gernot Erler, said that he had made a good impression at the hearing, which is expected to be decisive for the minister's survival.

But the CDU described his testimony as a "bluff", saying it was full of contradictions.

Chancellor Schroeder has already lost seven members of his cabinet

Criticism has focused on Mr Scharping's use of flights when he interrupted a holiday in Majorca with his girlfriend Countess Kristina Pilati to attend a parliamentary debate on sending German troops to Macedonia.

He then took a military flight back to Majorca for one night before flying on to Macedonia, only to return to the Spanish island the same evening.

He is also accused of using government jets to fly to Frankfurt, where the countess lives.

His standing has not been helped by the publication of pictures of his holiday with the countess just as the Macedonia debate was starting - a move which he has admitted was poorly timed.

Secret revelations

Ahead of Monday's hearing, Mr Scharping rejected the new allegations that German soldiers were forced to change their route to Macedonia after he revealed details of their journey.

We need a minister for security not a blabbermouth

CDU Defence spokesman Paul Breuer

The minister said he had been confronted with press reports which laid out the soldiers' route and that he had responded "rather imprecisely" to journalists' questions. But he denied that the soldiers' travel arrangements had been altered as a result.

The CDU's defence spokesman Paul Breuer said Mr Scharping's position had become untenable.

"I want to know why he gave away top German army secrets at a press conference," he said. "We need a minister for security not a blabbermouth".

And the head of the armed forces association, Bernhard Gertz, said that Mr Scharping had lost the trust and respect of soldiers by playing out his love life in public.

Chancellor Schroeder has continued to stand by his minister, but some Social Democrats have blamed Mr Scharping for the SPD's poor showing in local elections in Lower Saxony at the weekend.

The ongoing scandals are hurting the SPD's already-troubled coalition with the Greens, who are angry that the government is conceding too much to the opposition Christian Democrats to get a consensus over immigration.

Both the foreign and justice ministers have raised their own objections to the proposed immigration changes.