Germany’s Merz and Social Democrats clear first hurdle to forming new government coalition

This post was originally published on France24

Germany’s future chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said on Saturday that his conservative CDU party has reached a preliminary agreement in principle with the Social Democrats (SPD) to form a coalition government. They are now set to move on to the next, more decisive stage of full-fledged coalition negotiations. Their goal is to have a government in place by mid-April, six months after Olaf Scholz’s government fell on November 6, 2024. France24 journalist Morgan Ayre has the latest.