Thursday, April 15, 1999 Published at 11:54 GMT 12:54 UK
US plays down German peace plan
Kosovo refugees arrive in Bremen, northern Germany
Germany's main political parties gave broad support on Thursday to continued airstrikes on Yugoslavia, despite the apparent sidelining by Nato of a German peace plan.
"We cannot escape our responsibility," he said. "That is why our soldiers are on their first combat mission since World War II."
The German proposals on Kosovo were discussed at a brief European Union summit in Brussels on Wednesday.
They provide for:
Mr Schöder insisted in his speech that the German plan was in line with Nato's demands and not meant to water them down.
'Ball in Milosevic's court'
But the United States said on Wednesday it would not consider a halt in Nato's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia until all Western demands were accepted.
State Department spokesman James Rubin said the German idea was a way of implementing an agreement, but stressed that the ball was in Mr Milosevic's court.
BBC Correspondent Barney Mason says the Americans are warning their allies against moving too fast rather than rejecting the German ideas out of hand.
Nato said the German proposals were "a useful contribution" to discussion of how "end-game" diplomacy would be handled.
The EU leaders backed a UN peace initiative for Kosovo that closely resembles Nato's conditions for stopping airstrikes.
German Tornado warplanes are participating in the Nato air operation.
"We cannot allow a creeping expansion of their mission," Mr Schaeuble said.
Nato says it has no intention of a ground war.
A leader of the Greens, Chancellor Schröder's junior coalition partner, acknowledged public concern about the Nato strikes, though polls show most Germans support them.
"We must take fears in the population seriously," said Greens floor leader Rezzo Schlauch. "Many people fear an escalation of violence and wonder when the war will end."
But except for a small group of anti-war members, most of the Greens' lawmakers see "no alternative" to Nato's course, he said.