Negotiators for German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) reconvened Monday to hammer out compromises on healthcare and labor policy, the stumbling blocks in the way of another “grand coalition.”
The parties missed a self-imposed Sunday deadline to reach a deal on renewing the coalition that has governed Europe’s largest economy since 2013. But both sides cited progress and said the remaining differences did not appear insurmountable.
“It’s going to work out,” the SPD’s Andrea Nahles said on arrival for Monday’s negotiations at her party’s headquarters. Another SPD negotiator, Karl Lauterbach, put the chances of the parties striking a deal on Monday at 50-50.
The Rheinische Post newspaper, citing an internal SPD schedule, reported that Merkel, the leader of her Bavarian allies Horst Seehofer and SPD chief Martin Schulz wanted to present a final coalition agreement on Tuesday.
But Alexander Dobrindt of the Bavarian Christian Social Union said: “The hurdles are still big.”