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German Liberals to talk with Greens about possible participation in coalition — leader

FDP’s leader Christian Lindner noted that the Liberals and the Greens had the most serious differences in their programs
German Free Democratic Party’s leader Christian Lindner EPA-EFE/MARTIN DIVISEK
German Free Democratic Party’s leader Christian Lindner
© EPA-EFE/MARTIN DIVISEK

BERLIN, September 27. / TASS /. The Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP) decided to launch preliminary talks with Alliance 90/The Greens on possible participation in the future ruling coalition, following which, negotiations with both the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Christian Democratic and Christian Social Unions (CDU/CSU) are likely to take place, FDP’s leader Christian Lindner stated on Monday.

"The [FDP] federal government has instructed [party’s Secretary General] Volker Wissing and me to hold these negotiations," Lindner said, noting that the Liberals and the Greens had the most serious differences in their programs.

"Second of all, as we decided, after that, we will be open to invitations for discussions from the CDU/CSU or the SPD," Lindner mentioned.

In the elections to the Bundestag, held on September 26, the SPD came in first with 25.7% of the ballot, the CDU/CSU received 24.1% of the vote, their worst ever result. The FDP claimed 11.5%, and the Greens obtained 14.8%.

Leader of the SPD party list Olaf Scholz plans to hold talks on a future government without the Conservatives, which lost 8 percentage points compared with the 2017 voting results. Armin Laschet, the CDU/CSU candidate, still hopes to take up the post of Chancellor and intends to agree on building a coalition with the Liberals and the Greens.