Germany’s Merkel closer to breaking impasse over new govt
BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel took a significant step toward ending Germany’s lengthy political impasse by securing a preliminary agreement Friday to enter formal coalition talks with a centre-left party. The deal was welcomed by Germany’s European allies, but her prospective partner now faces a tough task to sell it to skeptical supporters.
Exhausted negotiators from Merkel’s conservative Union bloc and the centre-left Social Democrats presented their deal, which includes pledges to strengthen the European Union and keep a lid on the number of migrants entering Germany, following over 24 hours of non-stop talks to cap a week of wrangling.
“We have achieved outstanding results,” said the Social Democrats’ leader, Martin Schulz. But to make a new government a reality, he must first persuade a party congress Jan. 21 to agree to hold formal coalition negotiations. Then, if those talks are successful, he must steer a coalition deal through a ballot of the full party membership.
If things go well, a new government could be formed by Easter, said Horst Seehofer, the leader of the Christian Social Union — the Bavaria-only sister party to Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union.