German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Conservatives and the Social Democrats (SPD) agreed on Friday on a blueprint for formal coalition negotiations, party sources said, bolstering prospects for an end to months of political uncertainty. The agreement between party and parliamentary leaders paves the way for detailed negotiations in coming weeks, lifting the uncertainty that has weakened Germany’s role in international affairs and raised questions about how long Merkel will stay in her job.
A tentative German coalition government deal cleared a key hurdle when the SDP board gave the green light for the agreement to take effect.
The draft programme, outline policy goals during Merkel’s fourth term, must now be approved by the 600 SPD delegates at a party congress on January 21 and by the party’s more than 400,000 members.
