"The Social Democrats will have to decide if they want to govern or not," said Markus Soeder, of the Christian Social Union, the sister party of Merkel's Christian Democrat Union, or CDU.

The quarrel erupted after senior SPD politicians had attacked Merkel, claiming she broke her word by proclaiming not to raise taxes to finance health reform, which both parties agreed upon in a contentious weekend session.

SPD leader Peter Struck said Merkel bowed to pressure from conservative state premiers, who reportedly called on the chancellor not to raise taxes again after Berlin earlier this year had decided to hike the sales tax by three points, a rather unpopular measure.

The conservatives have called on the SPD to keep the attacks on Merkel above the belt.

Wolfgang Bosbach, deputy head of the CDU parliamentary faction, told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper: "Struck should watch himself, we have to work together for the next three years. We can't do that if we treat each other like that."

On Thursday, attacks became more vicious, however, with Johannes Kahrs, from the SPD's conservative wing, claiming the chancellor was becoming a problem for the government with her poor leadership abilities.

"The fish stinks from its head," he told a Berlin radio station. "Let only three or four state premiers whistle, and the chancellor already bows."

He added: "If that's going to be the tone of the summer break, then we have a problem."

It seems as if Tuesday's ousting of the German soccer team from the World Cup has ended a grace period for Germany's right-left grand coalition government. Leading SPD politicians feel that Merkel's word can't be taken for granted and that her state premieres dictate what she must do, while the conservatives feel the SPD is trying to destabilize the coalition.

Much of the SPD criticism is justified, said Peter Loesche, from Goettingen University, one of Germany's most prominent political experts.

"Merkel has made one mistake," he told United Press International via telephone. "After pressure from the state premiers, she has committed too early. She has shut the door on further negotiations."

Loesche added that when it comes to financing the health system, which the conservatives want to detach from labor costs, CDU lawmakers are not always on the same page.

"If one wants to lower non-wage labor costs, then taxes have to be raised," he said.

Merkel's inability to push through more stringent reforms is the first sign of weakness; it is also the first coalition quarrel that has -- verbally at least -- turned ugly.

Since it was formed late last year after neither side gained a decisive majority in the Sept. 18 federal elections, the grand coalition has accepted the tough task of steering Germany out of an economic crisis.

While a wave of optimism gripped the country in the months after Merkel became chancellor, it appears the extra cash has been used up by now.

Merkel began her term with a foreign policy tour where she could shine, but her critics say domestic reforms that bring the country forward are still missing.

Only once in Germany's post-war history, in the late 1960s, was Berlin governed by the unlikely team-up of two traditional rivals, the coalition of center-right CDU/CSU and center-left SPD.

On several issues, the views the parties have are antagonistic; early in its existence, some predicted the grand coalition would break apart way ahead of the full government period, which ends in 2009.

SPD Vice Chancellor Franz Muentefering, however, said the grand coalition remained stable, a view shared by Loesche.

"I don't think it's a downright crisis yet," Loesche said. "The current spat still qualifies for skirmish normal to a grand coalition."

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