Berlin: German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union and her new coalition partner liberal Free Democratic have started negotiations to form a new centre-right government, a week after they won an absolute majority in the parliamentary elections.
The leaders of the CDU, its Bavarian sister party Christian Social Union (CSU) and the FDP, yesterday worked out a time table for their negotiations and set up 10 working
groups to thrash out differences on the main themes of the proposed agreement.
The issues which cannot be sorted out by the working groups will be dealt with at the level of the party leaders.
At the outset of their talks, Merkel, CSU Chairman Horst Seehofer and FDP Chairman Guido Westerwelle expressed satisfaction over forming a new a centre-right coalition
government at the national level after 11 years.
They pledged to work together in a spirit of partnership for a fair coalition deal which will lay the foundation for a stable government.
Chancellor Merkel, who secured a second four-year term in the election with the support of the FDP, assured her coalition partners that the negotiations will be held in an
atmosphere of "good partnership and fairness."
She also expressed optimism that in spite of major differences on several issues between the conservatives and the liberals, the talks could be brought to a successful
conclusion by the end of this month.
Bureau Report
First Published: Wednesday, October 07, 2009, 15:46