Angela Merkel must decide whether or not to pursue coalition talks
Bonn — German Chancellor Angela Merkel is facing the first big hurdle of her push to set up an unprecedented four-party government for Europe’s biggest economy. After a month of exploratory talks marked by bickering over policy, Merkel is up against a self-imposed end-of-week deadline to unlock actual coalition negotiations. She’s gathering the heads of her Christian Democratic-led bloc, the Free Democrats and the Green party on Thursday to reach a verdict on whether or not to pursue the project. Discord over sharing risks in the eurozone, cutting carbon emissions and channelling immigration have hamstrung Merkel, who won a fourth term in September but is stuck with a caretaker government for now. The domestic conflicts are playing out on the global stage, most recently when she flagged Green-led demands for curbing coal as a stumbling block in coalition talks. "That’s why these are tough discussions," Merkel told a UN climate conference in Bonn, Germany, on Wednesday. "We’ll have t...
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