France hails progress in German govt coalition talks

By Hajer M'tiri

PARIS (AA) - France welcomed Monday the recent progress made in the ongoing coalition government talks in Germany, a week after the collapse of talks between German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic bloc (CDU/CSU), the pro-business FDP, and the Greens.

Merkel invited on Monday the Social Democratic Party (SPD) for preliminary talks to form a conservative-left coalition government, stressing Germany needed a stable government to address domestic and international challenges.

The new French government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux told reporters that this was "welcome" news.

"We welcome it [progress], we are obviously watching carefully all that can stabilize the political situation [in Germany] because if we do not have a strong partner, it will obviously be more difficult to be able to carry out the ambitious European project defended by the President of the Republic [Emmanuel Macron]," Griveaux said.

Merkel’s CDU/CSU failed to create a three-way government with the pro-business FDP and the Greens, after weeks of negotiations following the Sept. 24 federal election.

Although Merkel’s bloc is still the biggest group in parliament, it needs the support of either the SPD, which has the second-largest group in parliament, or two smaller parties to form a government.

Macron said last week the German political stalemate was not in France’s interest.

The French leader, a close ally of Merkel, needs the German leader's support to push forward with his plans for reforming the European Union.