‘Minimum wage tempts German social democrats into marriage with CDU’

Published on 18 October 2013 at 11:19

Cover

The foundations have apparently been marked out for a “Grosse Koalition”, remarks Die Welt, which reports that the first formal negotiations on the formation of a government between the social democrats of the SPD and the Christian democrats of Angela Merkel’s CDU-CSU are set to begin on October 23.

The daily voices its surprise at the growing pace of discussions — close to a month after general election — and explains that the deadlock was broken once the CDU accepted to introduce a minimum wage, the main condition imposed by the SPD for its inclusion in the government.

Elsewhere, Die Welt reports that the SPD is demanding control of the finance and labout ministries, while expressing a willingness to leave foreign affairs to the CDU.

Receive the best of European journalism straight to your inbox every Thursday
Tags

Was this article useful? If so we are delighted!

It is freely available because we believe that the right to free and independent information is essential for democracy. But this right is not guaranteed forever, and independence comes at a cost. We need your support in order to continue publishing independent, multilingual news for all Europeans.

Discover our subscription offers and their exclusive benefits and become a member of our community now!

Are you a news organisation, a business, an association or a foundation? Check out our bespoke editorial and translation services.

Support independent European journalism

European democracy needs independent media. Join our community!

On the same topic