(ANSA-AFP) - BERLIN, OCT 15 - German Finance Minister Olaf
Scholz on Friday took a step closer to succeeding Angela Merkel
as chancellor, as his Social Democrats, the Greens and liberal
FDP announced a preliminary deal to form a new government. The
three parties have been holding talks since Scholz's centre-left
Social Democratic Party (SPD) won the general elections on
September 26 with Merkel's conservatives in second place as she
prepares to leave politics. "Overall, we can sense here that a
new beginning is possible, brought about by the three parties
that have come together here," Scholz told reporters. "We have
agreed on a text from the exploratory talks," he said, calling
it a "very good result that clearly shows that a government that
aims to ensure we achieve progress can be formed in Germany".
Greens co-leader Annalena Baerbock said the initial agreement
heralds a "coalition of progress" to "really use the next decade
as a decade of renewal". The agreement that will form the basis
of formal coalition talks all but means that Merkel's CDU-CSU
alliance is headed for the opposition benches after scoring
their worst post-war election result. (ANSA-AFP).
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