Merkel's Party Backs Coalition Deal With Social Democrats

14:45 GMT, 26 February 2018

German Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier on Monday delivered a speech at a Christian Christian Democratic Union (CDU) congress calling on her fellow party members to back a coalition agreement as they are bearing the brunt of forming the government.

Sputnik

Germany's CDU voted in favor of a coalition agreement with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the wake of the chancellor's pledge to rejuvenate her party. All but 27 of the 975 CDU delegates attending the congress supported the partnership.

The plan is yet to be approved by the SPD; the final results are expected to be announced on Sunday, March 4.

Merkel: Europe Must Act as a Global Player to Be Taken Seriously

26 February 2018, 11:09 GMT

The CDU has been in disarray following the September 2017 parliamentary elections in Germany that saw the party's poorest result in 49 years, gaining 33 percent of the vote together with its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU). The election outcomes have forced Merkel to seek a coalition with smaller parties.

The chancellor initially planned to form a coalition with the Greens and the Free Democratic Party (FDP), but the preliminary talks with them collapsed.

Earlier this month, Merkel announced that the talks on creation of the alliance between the CDU/CSU bloc and the SPD to form the new government had been completed.