German coalition success on the cards after 24-hour talks conclude

Angela Merkel is close to announcing a new coalition can be formed after reaching a preliminary accord with Germany’s Social Democrats after a gruelling round of talks.

The German Chancellor will announce the deal – agreed between leaders of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, her Bavarian sister party and the Social Democrats after more than 24 hours of discussions – in Berlin later today, according to Bloomberg.

Merkel’s party won the elections back in September with 33 per cent of the vote, the party’s worst result since the Second World War, but talks to form a coalition collapsed some weeks later.

Fears were growing that a failure to conclude talks at this stage may have resulted in the country going back to the polls.

But today’s deal, said to be encapsulated in a 28-page agreement, should enable Germany, a key player in Brexit negotiations and the EU as a whole, to move forward.