German CDU leader Friedrich Merz has questioned the previous timeline for coalition talks with the SPD. According to reports by the newspaper “Bild”, Merz stated in a meeting of the CDU faction that if the talks with the SPD took longer, so be it. The previously planned timeline had the coalition agreement completed by Easter and the election for the Chancellor position set for the end of April.
Merz urged his party colleagues to thoroughly assert their positions in the ongoing coalition talks with the SPD. “We must now negotiate hard” Merz was quoted as saying.
The SPD is also preparing for more intense negotiations with the CDU. A government official told the newspaper that the planned votes on the debt brake reform and the special assets had a “very disciplining effect on both sides” by Tuesday. “Now the negotiations will get really tough. The CDU is switching gears, trying to push through their policy in its pure form. This will not work.