The conservative bloc of the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) have agreed to form a governing coalition in Germany after the early elections for the Bundestag, the NTV channel reported, citing sources in the negotiating circles.
The negotiators have managed to reach an agreement in principle on the controversial points in the future coalition agreement. “Now we just have to clarify the details“, the sources of the television channel noted. The three parties intend to inform the public about the results of the negotiations on Wednesday at 12:00 Bulgarian time.
On February 23, early elections for the Bundestag were held in Germany. The CDU/CSU won them with 28.5% of the vote. For the first time in its history, the Alternative for Germany took second place with 20.8%. The SPD remained in third place with 16.4% of the vote. They were followed by the Greens and the Left Party, which received 11.6% and 8.8% of the vote, respectively.
A few days after the elections, the Conservatives and the Social Democrats began exploratory consultations. On March 8, the party leaders announced the successful completion of this stage, the agreement on a common document and the transition to real coalition negotiations.
There were disagreements mainly on tax issues. The Social Democrats insisted on raising taxes for high-income earners, while the conservatives rejected this option and at the same time wanted to completely abandon the "solidarity supplement", designed to provide economic support to the regions of the former GDR. The parties could not reach a compromise for a long time on the size of pensions and other financial issues.
The future chancellor, the leader of the CDU Friedrich Merz, announced his intention to form a cabinet before Catholic Easter (celebrated on April 20). The Bundestag is discussing May 6 as the date for his possible election, NTV reported.