Merkel and SPD clinch coalition deal two months after vote
Source: Reuters
BY STEPHEN BROWN AND ERIK KIRSCHBAUM
BERLIN Wed Nov 27, 2013 7:04am EST
(Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) clinched a coalition deal early on Wednesday that puts Germany on track to have a new government in place by Christmas.
The agreement was struck roughly two months after Merkel was the clear winner in national elections but fell short of a parliamentary majority, forcing her into talks with the arch-rival SPD, with whom she ruled in an awkward "grand coalition" during her first term as Chancellor from 2005-2009.
The deal, spelled out in a detailed 185-page policy document, will not be final until approved over the coming weeks by a postal ballot of the 474,000 card-carrying SPD members, many of them skeptical about partnering with Merkel again.
But the agreement will be greeted with a sigh of relief in other European capitals. The lengthy talks have delayed movement on major European reforms, including the creation of a "banking union", an ambitious project designed to prevent a recurrence of the euro zone's crippling debt crisis.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/27/us-germany-coalition-idUSBRE9AQ0HT20131127
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