German Greens And Liberals Start Talks With Social Democrats

The first post-election talks on forming a coalition between the Greens and the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party on Tuesday were “constructive and objective”, Annalena Baerbock, the Green candidate for German chancellor, said. The CDU was “basically prepared for such a union [with the Greens]” and the meeting was a “good exchange,” the CDU’s would-be chancellor, Armin Laschet, also said, EUobserver reports.

However, on Wednesday, Greens and the liberal FDP have announced they want to launch talks about a potential coalition with the Social Democrat SPD, rather than with outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU/CSU. The first discussions are planned for Thursday, Euractiv.com reports.

The Greens announced that they had proposed to the business-friendly FDP to start formal exploratory talks for a three-way alliance with the Social Democrats. Shortly after, FDP leader Christian Lindner announced that his party had accepted the Greens’ offer. He added that he had already coordinated with SPD’s lead candidate Olaf Scholz to schedule first talks for the next morning.