The leaders of the conservative bloc of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU/CSU) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) have successfully concluded preliminary consultations to form a ruling coalition in Germany and are ready to move on to real coalition negotiations, where the program of the future government will be discussed point by point.
"I can tell you that we have concluded the consultations between the CDU/CSU and the SPD", SPD leader Friedrich Merz told reporters at a press conference. “Mutual understanding was reached on a number of issues“, he noted. "We have a joint document that will form the basis for coalition talks, which we will probably start next week," added Merz, who is the likely successor to Olaf Scholz as German chancellor.