I will not give up. There is a huge demand," she told the paper. "If they continue to stonewall, the SPD will make this one of their key demands in the national parliamentary elections," she said, adding that Merkel and other key conservatives would then "have to explain why they aren't helping families."
Divisions in the ruling coalition have become more pronounced in recent months amid growing discord over Merkel's open-door refugees policy, Germany's relations with Russia and other issues such as trade.
Germany has sought for years to adopt more family-friendly policies to boost its birth rate, which has edged higher in the past two years due to migration, but remains far lower than the number of deaths each year.