The chief negotiators of Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) and two smaller parties met in Berlin on Friday to resume talks on forming a governing coalition following elections in September.
A progress report is expected later in the day. Over the past week, talks had been held in reduced format and behind closed doors under an agreement not to leak information to the media.
The outcome of the Sept. 26, elections handed considerable power to the two smaller parties, the Greens who secured 14.8 per cent and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) on 11.5 per cent, according to preliminary results.
Together they are to have 210 seats in the new Bundestag, outnumbering the SPD, which will have 206, based on the 25.7 per cent it scored in the election.
The official results were to be published on Friday and were not expected to deviate from the preliminary figures.
“I expect that we will be able to tell you this afternoon how things will proceed,’’ FDP deputy leader Wolfgang Kubicki said as he went into the talks.
