Matthias Miersch, the chairman of the SPD parliamentary group, expects to work well with Union parliamentary group leader Jens Spahn in the black-red coalition. “We are both professionals” Miersch told the newspapers of the Funke Media Group (Friday editions). “Even with differing positions, the aim is to move the country forward.”

The Social Democrat Miersch belongs to the left-wing wing of the SPD, while Spahn is considered a conservative Christian Democrat. Both politicians were elected as chairmen of their respective parliamentary groups this week. Spahn had recently caused a stir with calls for a normalization of the AfD.