UPDATE 2 - German parties reach agreement on coalition gov't

UPDATES WITH REMARKS BY OLAF SCHOLZ; EDITS THROUGHOUT; CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE

BERLIN (AA) - Germany’s center-left, environmentalist, and liberal parties have reached an agreement to form a three-way coalition government, party leaders announced on Wednesday.

“The Social Democratic Party (SPD), Greens, and Free Democrats (FDP) have reached an agreement on a coalition treaty to form the next government,” Social Democrat Olaf Scholz told a joint news conference with party leaders.

He said the coalition agreement will now be presented to respective party organs for approval, and the three parties will do their utmost to conclude this process within the next 10 days.

Scholz said that during the negotiations, the three parties agreed on the distribution of Cabinet portfolios but the names of the ministers will be determined after further consultations.

The Social Democrats narrowly won the Sept. 26 elections against Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU), and have been negotiating with the Greens and FDP since October to form the country’s next coalition government.

According to the coalition treaty, the Social Democrats will get six ministerial posts, including the defense, interior, labor, and health ministries.

The Greens gained five ministries, including the Foreign Ministry, a newly expanded Economy and Climate Protection Ministry, as well as the environment and family ministries.

The pro-business FDP will get the finance, justice, education, and transport ministries, according to the reports.

The SPD is scheduled to hold a special party congress on Dec. 4 to approve the coalition treaty, and the Free Democrats will hold their congress on Dec. 5.

Michael Kellner, the secretary-general of the Greens, told media that they will invite nearly 125,000 members of the party to vote on the coalition treaty online.