West Germany: Coalition Ahead

Coalition talks between Chancellor Konrad Adenauer’s Christian Democrats and Erich Mende’s Free Democrats are proceeding smoothly. Bonn experts now predict the formation soon of a new C.D.U.-F.D.P. government under Adenauer, 85. Ludwig Erhard, Adenauer’s Minister of Economics for the past twelve years, is expected to retain his post, while Erich Mende will stay out of the Cabinet to continue serving as chairman of the F.D.P. When der Alte finally relinquishes his post (he refuses to set a date), Erhard will probably step up to the chancellorship, Defense Minister Franz Josef Strauss move to the Foreign Ministry and Mende into Defense.