Merkel’s Party Likely to Sign Off on 'Grand Coalition' Deal to Form Government

BERLIN (AP) — A party congress of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives is likely to sign off on a coalition deal for a new government reached this month with the centre-left Social Democrats.

The agreement will also need approval from the Social Democrats’ members to take effect. The result of that postal vote, expected on March 4, is harder to predict.

Monday’s convention of Merkel’s Christian Democrats in Berlin will also see a vote on the chancellor’s respected ally, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, taking over the party’s day-to-day management as general secretary.

Merkel on Sunday named her prospective Cabinet, including making one of her sharpest conservative critics, Jens Spahn, health minister.

Spahn has been a leading advocate of the Christian Democrats building a sharper conservative profile that contrasts with Merkel’s centrist approach.