After two months of talks, a coalition deal to govern Germany has been finalised.
The Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Free Democrats (FDP), and the Greens have agreed to form a government – a so-called ‘traffic light’ coalition (named for the colours associated with the three parties).
In elections in September the SPD emerged as the single biggest party, with 25.7% of the vote and 206 seats in the 736-member Bundestag. The Greens won 118 seats (nearly 20% of the vote, their best-ever result), while the FDP secured 92 seats. Together the three parties have a comfortable majority in the German legislature.
Olaf Scholz, the current minister of finance and leader of the SPD will become the new chancellor, succeeding Angela Merkel, who has served since 2005. Annalena Baerbock, the leader of the Greens, will be the new foreign minister.
The FDP’s leader, Christian Lindner, will succeed Scholz as the minister of finance.
This is the first time that a ‘traffic light’ coalition will govern at national level.
The various parties will now seek approval from their members for the deal, with the new government likely to be sworn in in early December.
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