"I certainly hear the reply of the companies that the money will be there when it's needed, but my faith that it will happen is fading more and more," Otto Lambsdorff, the German government's envoy to the talks, told the Berlin Zeitung newspaper.
More than 4,200 firms German have contributed to the fund set up in June, but they have raised only about 3.3 billion marks (dlrs 1.4 billion). Industry and the German government have agreed to each contribute half of the 10 billion mark (dlrs 4.4 billion) fund.
But Lambsdorff questioned whether companies would raise the pledged amount "in a timely fashion" and criticized them for the delay.
"The reluctant attitude of many companies not only harms the reputation of German business, it also is definitely starting to harm the reputation of the country," Lambsdorff said.
Some German firms have dragged their feet because of concerns that the fund won't shield them from further claims by Nazi-era laborers. Wrangles over dismissing U.S. class-action suits are also holding up payments to elderly survivors, once hoped to begin this year.
Germany, the United States and other countries signed the accord launching the fund last June. More than 1 million former laborers are expected to be eligible for payments, mostly Central and Eastern Europeans.
(ba/AP)