The coalition committee of the SPD and CDU met on Wednesday evening and lasted a good four hours. It was the first such meeting since the summer break. CSU leader Markus Söder left the Chancellery at 10:08 p.m., one minute later SPD chair Lars Klingbeil followed, and around 11:00 p.m. Chancellor and CDU leader Friedrich Merz called it a night. The main topics were the implementation of the reform plans agreed in July and the 2027 budget.
Ahead of the meeting, Merz had demanded a commitment to the agreed reform course, despite the sometimes drastic losses suffered by the Union and SPD in the September state elections. The SPD had pushed for changes to the reform package, in particular regarding the pension without deductions after 45 years of contributions.
The CDU-SPD coalition has not only been feuding over reforms lately. The election of the first AfD state parliament president also caused bad blood in the black-red government.
Source: www.spiegel.de
