German parties make final push for deal
Negotiators for German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) reconvened yesterday to hammer out compromises on healthcare and labour policy, the stumbling blocks in the way of another "grand coalition".
The parties missed a self-imposed Sunday deadline to clinch a deal on renewing the coalition that has governed Europe's largest economy since 2013. But both sides cited progress and said the remaining differences did not appear insurmountable.
"It's going to work out," the SPD's Andrea Nahles said on arrival for yesterday's negotiations at her party headquarters. Another SPD negotiator, Karl Lauterbach, put the chances of the parties striking a deal at 50-50.
The Rheinische Post newspaper, citing an internal SPD schedule, reported that Merkel, the leader of her Bavarian allies Horst Seehofer and SPD chief Martin Schulz wanted to present a final coalition agreement today.
But Alexander Dobrindt of the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) said: "The hurdles are still big."
In a sign of progress, the parties concluded their talks on Europe with an agreement to invest more in the euro zone and end austerity, Schulz said.
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