Germany’s Merz and Social Democrats clear first hurdle to forming new government coalition

Germany’s future chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said on Saturday that his conservative CDU party has reached a preliminary agreement in principle with the Social Democrats (SPD) to form a coalition government. They are now set to move on to the next, more decisive stage of full-fledged coalition negotiations. Their goal is to have a government in place by mid-April, six months after Olaf Scholz’s government fell on November 6, 2024. France24 journalist Morgan Ayre has the latest.