German parties `close in on coalition deal´
Prospective partners in a new German government have taken an important step towards reaching a coalition agreement, according to the dpa news agency.
The report, which cited unnamed participants, said Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, its Bavaria-only sister party the Christian Social Union and the centre-left Social Democrats achieved a breakthrough on the division of ministries.
It said that, following an all-night session, the three parties still have to work through a relatively short list of disagreements before reaching a final deal.
Angela Merkel (Kay Nietfeld/dpa/AP)
Any agreement will be submitted to a ballot of the Social Democrats’ members, a process that will take a few weeks.
