SPD take finance ministry in German coalition deal

8 Feb 18

The Social Democrats (SPD) will take charge of the finance ministry in the new German government, as it agreed a coalition deal with Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union.

The party also secured the foreign and labour ministries as part of the deal, Bild has reported.

Chancellor Merkel’s CDU will get the ministry of economy and defence.

The two parties had been in coalition talks since the beginning of January.

Last weekend, the parties missed a self-set deadline to reach agreement on healthcare and labour policies.

They are in dispute over the SPD’s call to replace Germany’s dual public-private healthcare system with a universal insurance system.

But the SPD and CDU found consensus on agriculture and housing measures, including investing more than €2bn in social housing by 2021.

Germay’s economic growth forecast for 2018 has been raised from 2.2% to 2.7% by the German Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

 

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