AFP, Berlin :
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives and the centre-left Social Democrats embark on a final round of talks Tuesday to seal a coalition deal and end months of political limbo in Europe’s top economy.
After marathon talks Monday, negotiators from Merkel’s CDU party, her Bavarian CSU ally and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) are to reconvene in Berlin at 10:00 am (0900 GMT) for one last push to clinch an agreement on a renewed “grand coalition”.
Despite the protracted haggling-the talks were initially supposed to end at the weekend-the parties sounded upbeat on meeting Tuesday’s self- imposed deadline.
“I remain optimistic,” said Daniel Guenther, the CDU premier of the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein.
Party sources said the main sticking points were disagreements over healthcare, labour policy and defence spending.
Julia Kloeckner, deputy of Merkel’s CDU party, said she expected talks to once again run into the night Tuesday , meaning it could take until Wednesday for a coalition treaty to be formally presented.
