Following an unsuccessful round of negotiations between Germany’s major political parties, Chancellor Angela Merkel still hopes to lead a coalition and avoid a fresh round of elections.
The latest set of talks between Merkel’s conservatives, the free-market liberal FDP and the Greens to form a so-called ‘Jamaica coalition’ broke up at 4 am local time on Friday, November 17, but they are thought to have already resumed the desperation to break the deadlock, Sputnik reported.
The Social Democrats, who were in a grand coalition government with Merkel up until September’s election, will be left out in the cold.
But Merkel said on Thursday the potential coalition partners had “very different positions” on key policy issues but she added: “I believe it can work.”
Volker Kauder, the parliamentary leader of Merkel’s ruling CDU party, said negotiations could even stretch into the weekend.
“I believe we should give ourselves a few more days to reach a strong and sensible agreement,” said FDP deputy leader Wolfgang Kubicki.
Although the CDU and the FDP have been in coalition many times before and both have a generally pro-business agenda, they do not have enough seats to rule alone and are seeking to bring the Greens on board.
But all three parties are keen to avoid fresh elections, fearing it may further boost the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD), which claimed 92 seats in 709-memebr chamber.
