Germany plans cabinet negotiations before February 4

Berlin Jan 27 (IANS) Germany s CDU/CSU conservative alliance and Social Democrats (SPD) want to complete coalition government negotiations before February 4 a media report said.

Michael Grosse-Bromer CDU/ CSU parliamentary group leader made the announcement after the first round of the formal talks beginning Friday on a new "grand coalition" government.

But he stressed a "time buffer " after the timing reports Xinhua.

The coalition government is expected to be formed by the incumbent Chancellor Angela Merkel s CDU with its sister party CSU and SPD.

Meanwhile Merkel was optimistic about the talks.

"People expect us to move towards forming a government and that s why I m very optimistic and very determined in these discussions that we reach a result and I believe that is achievable in a relatively manageable time frame " Deutsche Welle Germany s public international broadcaster quoted Merkel as saying.

SPD leader Martin Schulz said forming a stable government was pivotal for the country s success: "Given the challenges from China and the US the EU needs a strong pro-European Germany."

Horst Seehofer who leads the CSU was upbeat ahead of the talks saying: "We will do everything in our power today and in the coming weeks to arrive at a good result."

The previous government was the third "grand coalition" since Germany adopted its current political system.

Germany also witnessed "grand coalitions" in the 1960s and 2000s.

--IANS
sku/