Germany: Initial coalition talks to last 2 weeks

By Ayhan Simsek

BERLIN (AA) - Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative CDU/CSU bloc and its potential coalition partners have agreed to hold five round of meetings to seek common ground, officials said Friday.

Peter Tauber, secretary general of The Christian Democratic Union (CDU), told Germany's n-tv news channel that following Friday’s meeting among four party leaders, they would continue preliminary discussions in the next two weeks.

The CDU, its sister party CSU (Christian Social Union in Bavaria), the liberal Free Democratic Party and Greens identified twelve policy areas to discuss in detail, Tauber said.

The ares include migration, integration, finance, energy, foreign policy and Europe according to a press statement by the CDU.

FDP Secretary General Nicola Beer acknowledged that in some areas, potential coalition partners had very different opinions, and she said talks had a 50-50 chance of success.

If preliminary talks prove successful, than the parties will seek approval from their relevant bodies, before entering into real negotiations on coalition government program and distribution of ministerial posts among the parties.

Merkel’s CDU and its CSU allies were the largest bloc after federal elections on Sept. 24, but failed to secure an absolute majority in parliament.

A potential coalition between the CDU/CSU, FDP and the Greens, is often referred to as the "Jamaica coalition", as the traditional colors of these parties -- black, yellow and green -- correspond to Jamaica's flag.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has been ruled out of coalition talks by Merkel.