The conservative bloc Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU), which emerged as the clear winner in yesterday's parliamentary elections in Germany, is ready for coalition talks as soon as possible, a high-ranking representative of the political formation said this morning, BTA reported.
"From our point of view, we can start very, very soon", Jens Spahn, deputy chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, told ADR television.
"The first talks should take place in the next few days, hopefully before the end of this week", he noted. "Europe needs German leadership," Spahn said.
Although the CDU and its sister party in Bavaria, the CSU, won about 28.5 percent of the vote, they will have to rely on at least one coalition partner to form a government, DPA reported.
After all major political parties ruled out cooperation with the far-right anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party, which achieved its best result yet and came in second place, the conservatives are expected to turn to the Social Democrats of former Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The German Social Democratic Party suffered a crushing defeat and came in third with about 16.4 percent. If the Social Democrats unite with the conservatives, the coalition would have a slim majority of 328 votes in the 630-seat Bundestag (lower house of parliament), preliminary figures show.