{"id":399359,"date":"2018-02-07T15:38:26","date_gmt":"2018-02-07T15:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=399359"},"modified":"2018-02-07T15:38:26","modified_gmt":"2018-02-07T15:38:26","slug":"merkel-clinches-germany-coalition-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=399359","title":{"rendered":"Merkel clinches Germany coalition deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Angela Merkel’s conservatives (CDU\/CSU) have finally hashed out a coalition deal with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) that could break months of political deadlock in Germany.<\/p>\n

Negotiators have agreed on the division of key ministries – one of the last hurdles towards forming a government.<\/p>\n

It could end more than four months of wrangling since inconclusive elections in September.<\/p>\n

But the deal will still need to be approved by SPD members.<\/p>\n

Many in the party fear that re-entering a coalition with CDU\/CSU could damage it in the long term.<\/p>\n

In a joint news conference on Wednesday, Chancellor Merkel said the agreement gave the basis for a “good and stable government”.<\/p>\n

SPD leader Martin Schulz thanked the conservatives for making what he said were tough compromises.<\/p>\n

In a tweet, he said the deal “achieved a lot for people”\u00a0and he would be recommending that his party members accept it.<\/p>\n

What has been agreed?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The SPD looks set to control six ministries, including finance and foreign affairs.<\/p>\n

German media say Mr Schulz, a former president of the European Parliament, is hoping to get the job of foreign minister.<\/p>\n

\"MartinMr Schulz says the deal “achieves a lot for people”<\/span><\/figure>\n

But the whole agreement still needs the approval of the SPD’s 460,000 members, who will have the final say in a postal vote due in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

Those opposed to any deal with Mrs Merkel include a new group within the SPD calling itself NoGroKo (no grand coalition).<\/p>\n

Why has this taken so long?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mr Schulz at first ruled out going back into government with Mrs Merkel’s centre-right CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the CSU.<\/p>\n

The parties had seen their popularity drop after being in coalition on and off since 2005.<\/p>\n

He changed his mind when CDU\/CSU coalition talks with the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) and Greens broke down.<\/p>\n

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Both Mr Schulz and Mrs Merkel have been under pressure to see off a challenge by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which became the third biggest party in September’s election.<\/p>\n

Other than distributing ministries, there have been big stumbling blocks in the coalition talks over workers’ rights and healthcare.<\/p>\n

Immigration, Europe, and tax, have also been points of contention.<\/p>\n

Why does Germany’s government matter?<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Damien McGuinness, BBC News, Berlin<\/strong><\/p>\n

Handing Germany’s centre-left control of finance, foreign and labour policy would have a big impact on the rest of the world, particularly Europe.<\/p>\n

A Social Democrat finance ministry – replacing pro-austerity Wolfgang Sch\u00e4uble – is more likely to go along with French President Macron’s ambitious plans for EU reform, by allowing more German support for struggling eurozone economies.<\/p>\n

And at home these powerful ministries would help the SPD push for key left-wing policies, such as better rights for employees.<\/p>\n

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All of this could go down well with SPD party members, who will vote on any final coalition deal.<\/p>\n

An agreement which looks like a win for the SPD will increase the likelihood that they will vote yes.<\/p>\n

But if they vote no, then the most likely outcome could be fresh elections.<\/p>\n

What has the reaction been?<\/strong><\/p>\n

European Union allies, such as France, see Germany as a pillar of stability in the bloc and have been hoping Mrs Merkel succeeds.<\/p>\n

Top EU officials, including the Economics Commissioner Pierre Moscovici, welcomed the breakthrough on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Source: BBC<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Angela Merkel’s conservatives (CDU\/CSU) have finally hashed out a coalition deal with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) that could break months of political deadlock in Germany. Negotiators have agreed on the division of key ministries – one of the last hurdles towards forming a government. It could end more than four months of wrangling since […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":399361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-399359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=399359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/399361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=399359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=399359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=399359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}