In Germany, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU), along with the Social Democratic Party (SPD), have announced the conclusion of a coalition agreement, Tagesschau reports.

Germany's chancellor-in-waiting and leader of the Christian Democratic Union party (CDU) Friedrich Merz, Christian Social Union (CSU) leader and Bavarian Premier Markus Soeder, co-leaders of the Social Democratic party (SPD) Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil walk to attend a press conference after reaching an agreement on their coalition government in Berlin,

By Andreas Rinke and Matthias Williams BERLIN (Reuters) -German conservatives under Friedrich Merz clinched a coalition deal with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) on Wednesday, aiming to revive growth in Europe's largest economy just as a global trade war threatens recession.

After winning Germany’s election on February 23rd, Mr Merz had shocked observers by questioning nato’s future under Mr Trump and declaring that Europe must “achieve independence from America”. But there were no such fireworks on offer this week.

The chancellor-in-waiting's conservatives have reached a coalition agreement with Germany's Social Democrats, five months after the last government collapsed.

The agreement was concluded relatively quickly but still took about six and half weeks, during which the country had been virtually rudderless at a critical moment for Europe.

Friedrich Merz and his conservative Christian Democratic Union must now persuade Germans that he can fix the economy and get immigration under control.

Conservative and center-left parties will present a deal to form a new German government on Wednesday after weeks of negotiations.

The far right emerged for the first time as Germany’s biggest political force in an opinion poll on Wednesday, as conservative chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz rushes to form a government with the Social Democrats.