Currently, leader of the German Christian Social Union (CSU) Horst Seehofer considers that the new government may be put on oath in the first half of March.
"We must begin negotiations on the coalition immediately after the SPD congress. They can end in the first days of February. Then the decision of the members of the SPD will follow. The new government can be sworn in the first half of March, long before Easter," Seehofer told Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
12 January 2018, 07:44 GMT
No party managed to secure the majority of seats necessary to form a government at German parliamentary elections on September 24. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's alliance of the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) won the election with 33 percent of votes and secured 246 seats in parliament, while the SPD came second with 20.5 percent votes, winning 153 seats. Merkel initially planned to form a coalition with the Greens and the Free Democratic Party, but the preliminary talks with them were unsuccessful.
Last Friday, the latest round of preliminary consultations between the CDU/CSU and SPD resulted in a breakthrough after the sides agreed on a document on forming a coalition government. The final decision on the coalition talks will be made on January 21 at the SPD congress.
