BERLIN, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Germany's economy minister

said on Monday funds no longer needed to subsidize Intel's ( INTC ) new

chip-making plants could be used to balance the books in an

apparent concession to the finance minister whose party

threatened to leave the ruling coalition.

The announcement comes amid a struggle within Chancellor

Olaf Scholz's fractious three-way coalition to close a

multi-billion euro gap between projected spending and revenue in

the 2025 budget that risks tearing it apart.

"The important thing is that if we don't get the budget

right, if the budget fails, then we will enter into a prolonged

impasse in Germany... at the worst possible time," Economy

Minister Robert Habeck of the Greens told reporters.

Finance Minister Christian Linder of the Free Democrats

(FDP) had previously said the subsidies originally meant for

Intel ( INTC ) should be used to plug the budget.

The economy ministry however had maintained that the

subsidies were due to come from the off-budget climate and

transformation fund meaning they were not available to plug the

regular budget.