Germany’s conservative bloc and the Social Democrats (SPD) have started exploratory talks aimed at forming a new government coalition, following Sunday’s federal election.
Leading party representatives gathered in a parliament building on Friday morning.
The conservative bloc, led by the likely future Chancellor Friedrich Merz, came out top in the elections with 28.5 percent of the votes.
A report by the German News Service (delivered by dpa) indicates that Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD plunged to a historic low of 16.4 percent, coming third behind the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), who have earlier been ruled out of government.
Friday’s talks are expected to focus primarily on outlining initial broad lines and setting a timetable for coalition negotiations. When the actual negotiations will begin remains unclear.
Merz aims to form a government by Easter, to tackle the numerous pressing challenges facing Germany. However SPD leader Lars Klingbeil has stressed that the conditions have to be right for them to agree to a coalition.
Easter Sunday falls on April 20 this year.
Each side is sending nine negotiators to the exploratory talks, which follow an initial meeting between Merz and Scholz on Tuesday, February 25, 2025.
According to dpa information, the conservative delegation includes Merz, who leads the Christian Democrats (CDU) and Markus Söder, the chair of the Bavaria-only Christian Social Union (CSU).
The SPD’s team includes party co-leaders Klingbeil and Saskia Esken, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius and Labour Minister Hubertus Heil.
Coalition talks between the CDU/CSU and the SPD are expected to be difficult, given their significant differences on issues such as migration, budget funding and Ukraine.
