Germany Coalition: Merkel Courts SPD in Pivotal Talks

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she is hopeful that fresh coalition talks aimed at ending the country’s political stalemate can succeed, according to BBC.

More than three months after a general election, Germany is still without a new government.

The five-day talks will include Mrs Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU), its sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Social Democrats (SPD).

Many see this as her last chance to form a stable coalition.

“I believe the talks can succeed,” Mrs Merkel said as she arrived at the SPD headquarters in Berlin.

“I’m going into these talks with optimism, indeed it’s clear that in these few days we have a huge amount of work ahead of us, but we’re willing to take on this work and achieve a good outcome,” she added.

The centre-left SPD has governed jointly with the chancellor’s centreright party for eight of the last 12 years. But, after a historically poor poll result in September, SPD leader Martin Schulz had vowed to take his party into opposition.

Pressure has mounted on the SPD since November, when Mrs Merkel failed to cobble together a coalition with the liberal FDP and the Greens.

The chancellor must now convince SPD leaders that they have enough common goals to start formal coalition negotiations by March or April.

Mr Schulz has said he would not draw any red lines and that “new times call for new politics”.

European Union allies, such as France, see Germany as a pillar of stability in the bloc and will be hoping Mrs Merkel succeeds.

However, according to one opinion poll on Sunday, one in three voters thought Sunday’s talks would fail, although 54% said a revived “grand coalition” of the big parties would be positive for Germany.