Merkel’s Conservatives and SPD start official coalition negotiations

Four months after Germans elected a new parliament in September, acting Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU/CSU alliance and the Social Democrats (SPD) have started official coalition negotiations, public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk reports. After an initial meeting of party leaders, lower-ranking party representatives convene to prepare the negotiations of 18 different working groups that will base their deliberations on a coalition blueprint the parties agreed on earlier in January. SPD leader Martin Schulz said the parties were intent on delivering results quickly, but cautioned that “accuracy trumps velocity”. According to the broadcaster, the parties could agree on a coalition treaty by mid-February. But the SPD  will subsequently let its party members decide whether they accept the treaty, a procedure that is likely to take some weeks. Chancellor Merkel said ahead of the talks that “people expect us to make progress towards forming a government”, adding that she would make sure “that we proceed quickly”, tagesschau.de reports. 

Find background in the article Coalition watch – The making of a new German government