Parties confident to agree coalition treaty, new German government by end of November
The parties negotiating Germany鈥檚 next government coalition plan to table a coalition treaty and propose new government ministers next week. In a聽聽 by the Social Democrats (SPD), the聽Green Party聽and the Free Democrats (FDP) carried by public broadcaster ARD, party representatives stopped short of announcing an exact target date and did not share information on the remaining disputes. However, they reiterated that the talks were going in the right direction. Michael Kellner, executive secretary of the聽Green Party, said the negotiations have been held in a 鈥渧ery good, very constructive and very thorough atmosphere.鈥� Before Kellner鈥檚 statement on Tuesday, the Greens had warned that disputes particularly in climate policy continued to be significant and聽could potentially derail the agreed schedule. The FDP鈥檚 secretary general, Volker Wissing, said the parties would aim to fill the coalition treaty with 鈥渃oncrete agreements鈥� rather than non-binding intentions. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we need time,鈥� Wissing said, adding he had 鈥渁 good feeling鈥� that a treaty could be agreed next week.聽SPD聽secretary general Lars Klingbeil said the talks among party leaders would now continue 鈥渙pen-ended鈥� on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday to ensure that the ground is prepared for an agreement before the end of the month. 鈥淲e will make this happen,鈥� Klingbeil added.
SPD聽chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz on Monday聽聽at an event organized by S眉ddeutsche Zeitung that the talks would be 鈥渧ery, very target-oriented鈥� and that the negotiators had managed to resolve several contentious issues among them.
Germany's coalition negotiations聽entered a new round聽this week, as the remaining differences from previous discussions in 22 working groups are to be ironed out in negotiations involving the party heads. The prospective "traffic light coalition" partners, dubbed after the parties' respective colours, want to conclude discussions by the end of this month, so acting finance minister Scholz can take over from Angela Merkel (CDU) as the new chancellor and a new government can be sworn in during the week starting on 6 December.
