The Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP) today start their formal negotiations on the formation of a new coalition government., since as expected in last month's elections no party secured an absolute majority of seats in the Budestag to form a self-reliant government.
Six representatives from each party will meet the heads of the working groups in Berlin. In total, there are 22 working groups that will negotiate the details of the coalition's programme agreement in the coming weeks, called the «traffic light» by the colours of the three factions (red, yellow, green).
A final agreement on the government is far from being reached, as there are several differences on policy issues and the choice of the people who will staff the new government that will need to be resolved, although preliminary, informal talks between the three parties have already taken place.
