Coalition agreement between conservatives and social democrats to form a government in Germany

The conservatives and the Social Democrats reached an agreement on Wednesday to form a governing coalition in Germany, after weeks of negotiations following the federal elections on February 23. The agreement between the Christian Democratic bloc, made up of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) was reached 45 days after the elections and 27 days after Party leaders will present the details of the pact at a press conference at 3 p.m.

, according to the CSU's press release. The agreement still needs to be approved by the CSU executive and a CDU mini-congress, while the SPD will submit it to an electronic vote of its members. The l , whose party won the federal elections, had hoped after the elections to reach an agreement before Easter, and that's exactly what happened.



The tariff war unleashed by US President Donald Trump and the sharp losses in the stock markets had increased pressure on negotiators in recent days. In recent days, the conservatives had also come under pressure to reach an agreement due to the polls. A recent INSA poll placed the CDU-CSU and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party tied with 24.

5% of the voting intention. Merz is not yet chancellor. In Germany, voters do not directly elect the head of the federal government, but rather through the Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament resulting from the elections.

The Federal President, Social Democrat Frank-Walter Steinmeier, will propose a candidate, who, as a rule, is the candidate of the party that receives the most votes. The Chancellor is elected by the deputies without prior debate and by secret ballot. The Chancellor must be elected with an absolute majority of the votes in the Bundestag.

He or she must then be appointed by the Federal President. If an absolute majority is not achieved, a second vote will be held 14 days later. If there is still no absolute majority, a third vote will be held, in which a winner can be determined by a simple majority.

If the candidate does not achieve this majority, the Federal President must appoint him or dissolve the Bundestag within seven days. Precedents of the Grand Coalition This isn't the first time that conservatives and Social Democrats have formed a coalition to govern in Germany. However, the big difference this time is that the SPD is the third-largest party, The conservative CDU-CSU bloc won the February 23 elections with 28.

5% of the vote, against the AfD (20.8%), SPD (16.4%), Els Verds (11.

6%), and L'Esquerra (8.8%). The first Grand Coalition, the name given in Germany to the coalition of the two major German parties, was formed in 1966 with Kurt Georg Kiesinger (CDU) as Federal Chancellor and Willy Brandt (SPD) as Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister.

More recently, conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel led three grand coalition governments with the Social Democrats..