The German Social Democratic Party SPD candidate for chancellor Olaf Scholz attended a hybrid party conference on December 4, 2021, for the approval of the traffic light coalition agreement at the party headquarters in Berlin, Germany. REUTERS Hannibal Hanschke Pool
BERLIN, Dec 4, Reuters - Members of Germany's Social Democratic party SPD, which narrowly won a September federal election, voted on Saturday to back a coalition agreement with the Greens and Free Democrats that should allow the three-way alliance to take over next week.
The coalition, the first between the ideologically disparate Greens, the libertarian Free Democrats FDP and Olaf Scholz's centre-left SPD, will end 16 years of conservative governments led by Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Greens and the FDP need the approval of their members for the deal that the three parties agreed last month. They hope the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, will vote on Wednesday for Scholz as chancellor.
The traffic light alliance, named after the parties' respective colors, will help in a new era of relations with Europe, plans to speed up digitalisation of the continent's biggest economy and focus on fighting climate change.