The coalition deal could be “the foundation of a good and stable government, which our country needs and many in the world expect of us,” she added. The coalition accord will be put to a ballot of the Social Democrats’ more than 460,000 members, a process that will take a few weeks. Merkel’s party would keep the defence ministry and get the economy and energy ministry, held by the Social Democrats in the outgoing government. After the election, Schulz had ruled out taking a Cabinet position under Merkel, and seeking a ministry could complicate his efforts to sell the deal to members. “Regardless of whether a ministry is led by the Social Democrats or the (Christian Democratic) Union, you can only spend the money you have,” Merkel said.

Source: thestar February 07, 2018 18:00 UTC