FILE -Olaf Scholz, German Chancellor of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), left, and Friedrich Merz, right, leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), are pictured in tv studio ahead of a debate in Berlin, Germany, Feb. 19, 2025. (Fabrizio Bensch/Pool Photo via AP, File)
BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s center-left Social Democrats have voted to approve a coalition agreement. The vote’s results were announced Wednesday.
It paves the way to elect Friedrich Merz as the new German chancellor. Merz’s Union bloc previously approved the agreement.
The parliament will meet May 6 to elect Merz, who will need a majority of all members of the lower house to be elected as post-World War II Germany’s 10th chancellor and succeed Olaf Scholz.
The coalition aims to spur economic growth, ramp up defense spending, take a tougher approach to migration and catch up on long-neglected modernization.
