German government coalition talks to start Thursday, top CDU official says

By Oliver Towfigh Nia

BERLIN (AA) - The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) will formally kick off their government coalition talks on Thursday, a leading CDU official said on Monday.

The CDU, CSU and SPD will negotiate for 10 days in 16 working groups on the formation of a new government coalition, CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann said after consultations with the party leadership in Berlin.

The CDU executive board had earlier unanimously accepted the exploratory results with the SPD and given the green light for the start of coalition negotiations.

"We have no time to lose," said Linnemann, adding that the SPD and CSU agreed "that we have to get going here."

He spoke of a working coalition that is aware of the responsibility it bears "and that we have to regain trust in the center of parliament."

The former government was characterized by constant disputes and resentment but "this working coalition will exude a different spirit," Linnemann stressed.

He said the working groups would be closely linked to a steering group. This would ensure that not everything was regulated in detail, "but that we really concentrated on the big points."

CDU leader Friedrich Merz is expected to be Germany’s next chancellor and has highlighted plans for extra spending on defense and infrastructure.