German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, or CDU, reached a deal with the Christian Social Union and the Social Democratic Party on Wednesday to form a coalition government, the country’s public broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported.
The broadcaster said that the Social Democratic Party, or SPD, leadership confirmed reports of the deal over a Whatsapp message to its members. “Tired. But satisfied,” the message said. It added that final details of the deal were being added to the contract. An SPD team would then assess the contract.
“It was high time that we got the prospect of a government,” Christian Social Union, or CSU, Parliamentary group leader Alexander Dobrindt told reporters while leaving the party headquarters in Berlin. He added that he was satisfied with the deal.
The SPD is likely to control six ministries, including finance and foreign affairs, the BBC reported. The SPD’s 4,60,000 members will vote in the coming weeks on whether to agree to a coalition government with the CDU and CSU.
While Merkel’s CDU won the largest number of seats – 238 – in the German elections in September 2017, it failed to win a majority in the 690-seat Parliament. The SDP finished second with 148 seats while the far-right Alternative for Germany became the first far-right party to enter the country’s parliament in six decades, winning 95 seats.
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