New government in Germany after two months of negotiations

Angela Merkel's conservatives and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) came to an agreement to form a broad coalition government early this morning, two conservative politicians announced on their Twitter accounts.

The two major political forces in Germany were in negotiations during the night and reaching an agreement early this morning according to Christian Democrats (CDU) Parliamentary Group Secretary Michael Grosse-Brömer and Saarland conservative Prime Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. Shortly after these tweets, negotiators from both parties confirmed to the German Press Agency the news of the agreement.

The agreement points

Conservatives and Social Democrats reached an agreement on dual citizenship and the minimum wage, which removes the current obligation for children who were born in Germany of foreign parents to choose between two nationalities before their 23rd birthday. Also, the agreement establishes a nationwide minimum wage rate at 8.5 euros from 2015. They agreed not to raise taxes and to avoid being imposed with additional government debt from 2015.

The composition of the government will be known in two weeks

Two months after Merkel’s electoral victory and one month after the start of talks to form a coalition government, this agreement will enable the German Chancellor to form a government by Christmas if the SPD get the green light by the majority vote of its more than 474,000 members.

The party leaders are expected to present details of the agreement at a press conference later today as it is the expiration date for the deadline given by Merkel, however, they might take about two more weeks to announce the composition of the government.