Social Democratic Party (SPD) leader Martin Schulz arrives for coalition talks at the SPD headquarters in Berlin, Germany, February 2, 2018. REUTERS/Christian Mang
February 2, 2018
BERLIN (Reuters) – The leader of Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) said on Friday there was no time pressure in negotiations with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives on forming a coalition, suggesting talks will run beyond an initial deadline of Sunday night.
“In a few minutes we will begin the final round of negotiations on forming a new government,” Martin Schulz said as he arrived for talks, adding that labor rights and healthcare policy continued to be sticking points in the negotiations.
He said solid progress had been made in talks and that he assumed the talks would be successful “for our country”.
(Reporting by Thomas Escritt; Editing by Paul Carrel)
