Angela Merkel's pro-business junior coalition partners, the Free Democrats (FDP), sought to distance themselves from some of the chancellor's latest manifesto suggestions over the weekend, saying that they were fiscally irresponsible.

"A race between the [Christian Democratic Union] and the [opposition Social Democrats] in terms of social policy would become a severe test for the budget and tax payers," Economy Minister and FDP leader Philipp Rösler said in the Saturday edition of the "Rheinische Post" newspaper.

Rösler was reacting to suggestions made by Merkel in a telephone conference with members of her Christian Democrats. Some of the policies that upset the FDP included higher pensions for mothers whose children were born before 1992, an increase in children's allowance, more money to secure teachers and improved Internet connection speeds and availability.

"Social welfare programs on tap are not our understanding of a social market economy and economic common sense," Rösler's FDP ally Rainer Brüderle told the business daily "Handelsblatt."

Handelsblatt released excerpts of its feature, due to be published on Monday, ahead of time on Saturday. The paper reported that the proposals, if implemented, could cost 28.5 billion euros ($37 billion).

The FDP is struggling in the polls ahead of September's general election, battling to clear the 5-percent minimum hurdle required to guarantee parliamentary representation. The party usually orientates itself around a low-tax, low-spending liberalist platform. The party's inability as junior coalition partners to deliver tax reductions promised in the last general election campaign is often cited as a possible reason for the FDP's decline in popularity since a strong showing in 2009.

Campaign poetry, legislative prose?

Some Christian Democrats also suggested that they did not approve of the measures, but simultaneously said they did not expect them to be implemented in the form Merkel floated.

"Such social good deeds are typical election promises," the head of a CDU body representing the middle class, Josef Schlarmann, told "Focus" magazine. "Everyone knows that they are put in the shop window before the election, only to disappear behind the counter after the vote."

Merkel's CDU is due to finalize its campaign manifesto late in June. Lead negotiating groups are due to meet for preliminary discussions next week. Germany votes on September 22.

msh/kms (AFP, dpa)