BERLIN: Germany's Greens met on Sunday to vote on the formal start of coalition talks with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) after last month's election led to a reordering of the political landscape.
The summit comes three weeks after the September 26 elections saw a sharp fall in support for outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc.
The SPD came out on top and are now in talks with the Greens and the FDP. In the last government the SPD was in a grand coalition with Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU).
While all three have already come out in favour of formal talks to forge a coalition, Sunday's Green Party convention would see delegates officially confirm the move.
On Sunday, 99 Green Party delegates have the right to vote on the question but it remains unclear how many will take part. They met in a convention building in Berlin at 1 pm and a decision is expected soon.
Sunday's meeting is known as a small party conference, or state council, which is the Green Party's top decision-making body between party conferences.
It is made up of the 16 members of the party council, state association delegates, the head of the Bundestag parliamentary group,European parliamentarians and representatives of its youth wing. The Social Democrats formally approved the step on Friday, while the FDP leadership is set to do so on Monday.
Meanwhile, the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), which governed Germany under Chancellor Angela Merkel for 16 years, is calling for a new start as it deals with the aftermath of a disastrous election.
"We have to change how we work together," said Ralph Brinkhaus, the parliamentary CDU leader, at the Junge Union's Germany Day in the city of Muenster on Sunday. The Junge Union represents the joint youth wing of the CDU and its Bavarian sister party the CSU. It describes itself as the largest political youth organization in Europe.
Brinkhaus added that loyalty and cohesion must once again take centre stage and pointed to the Social Democrats (SPD), the narrow winners of September's Bundestag elections, as a positive example in the election campaign as they stood like a bloc.
"After an event like the one on September 26, you cannot just go backto normality and carry on like this," Brinkhaus said. He described CDU's historically worst result in a federal election as"devastating." - dpa
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