Germany's Social Democrats, Greens and Free Democrats have almost concluded coalition talks, the parties say. This means the country will likely have a new government well before Christmas.
The three parties planning to form a new coalition government in Germany will finalize a draft deal in the course of Wednesday, party sources have said after some differences over financial and climate policies and ministerial posts were resolved at overnight talks.
Twenty-one representatives of the three parties — the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), the environmentalist Greens, and the business-focused Free Democrats (FDP) — were to meet for concluding negotiations on Wednesday. The parties issued invitations to the press for a mid-afternoon conference where the party leaders would "present the coalition deal negotiated in the previous weeks," as the Greens put it in their invitation.
Any deal must be voted on by party conferences in the case of the SPD and the FDP and by party members in the case of the Greens.
