Germany’s Merkel steps up tempo of talks to renew alliance with SPD

Bloomberg

Chancellor Angela Merkel and her prospective coalition partners stepped up the pace of talks to end Germany’s political impasse, setting a nine-day timeline for a final deal on a government platform.
Merkel’s Christian Democratic-led bloc and the Social Democratic Party agreed on Friday to try to wrap up negotiations by February 4. If that goal is met, the SPD plans to put the resulting coalition pact to a nationwide membership ballot, which would take several more weeks.
More than four months after her party won an inconclusive federal election, Merkel said a coalition of Germany’s two biggest parties is within reach, even though a national convention of Social Democrats split on Sunday about whether to stay in government.
“People expect us to move toward forming a government, so I’m going into these talks very optimistically but also focused on achieving results,” Merkel told reporters earlier Friday in Berlin.
“I think that’s also achievable in a reasonable period of time.”
Michael Grosse-Broemer, the CDU’s parliamentary whip, said talks would culminate on the weekend of Feb. 3-4, “with the clear intention to bring the talks to a positive conclusion.”