The head of the Deutsche Bundespost Telekom, Helmut Ricke, urged the government and opposition to strike a deal in crucial talks next week on the privatisation of the state-owned concern, Reuter reports from Bonn: the talks between the government and the Social Democratic opposition are due to resume May 14: politicians on both sides of the debate, which resumed last month, agree a decision must be reached before the Bundestag’s summer recess on July 3 or there won’t be enough time in the legislative calendar to pass the bill before next year’s parliamentary elections; TeleKom finance director Joachim Kroeske complained to the Wall Street Jorunal that We have an organisation more like a bureaucracy than a real company – we have civil servants with lifetime employment, high pensions and salaries that correspond to the length of service and how many children they have.
