New try to form ruling coalition

BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday that her conservative bloc is willing to start talks on trying to forge a “stable government” with the center-left Social Democrats, with an eye on the large challenges Germany faces both internationally and domestically.

“We are ready to hold talks with the Social Democrats ... in a serious, engaged, honest way and obviously with the intention of success as well,” Merkel said after a meeting with her party’s leadership in Berlin.

Talks between Merkel’s conservative bloc and two smaller parties to form a previously untried coalition collapsed a week ago. Merkel’s partners in the outgoing government, the Social Democrats, initially refused to consider another so-called “grand coalition” after a disastrous showing in the election. But following an appeal from the country’s president they reversed course Friday and said they are now open to holding talks.

The chancellor said that in the face of problems in Germany and Europe, such as the task of integrating hundreds of thousands of migrants, but also “regarding the conflicts in the Middle East, the situation in Russia, and the situation in the U.S.A.,” the government needs to be “capable of acting.”

Social Democratic leader Martin Schulz said his party’s members would have a final say over any agreement, be it a revival of the grand coalition or a Merkel-led minority government tolerated by the Social Democrats.