German parties reach governing coalition deal

BERLIN — Leaders of the three parties set to form Germany’s new government have sealed a coalition deal, which they will present later on Wednesday.

The center-left Social Democrats (SPD), who won the September 26 election with Finance Minister Olaf Scholz as their candidate for chancellor, the Greens and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) will form a three-party government.

A final session of coalition talks kicked off Wednesday morning to put the finishing touches to the deal. The parties announced that Scholz would then present the agreement alongside SPD chiefs and leaders of the Greens and the FDP.

The deal will then be put to the wider parties for consideration, with the Greens planning to consult all their members, while the SPD has already scheduled an extraordinary party conference for December 4, where it will decide whether to accept the coalition agreement. The FDP plans to do the same at its own party conference on December 5.

If all parties approve, they will be done in time to have Scholz elected as chancellor in the week starting December 6, sticking to the parties’ intended timeline.