Merkel: still tough coalition negotiations

berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) still expects difficult negotiations with the SPD and CSU before reaching agreement on a new coalition agreement.

She goes with 'good will, but also with a certain expectation that heavy negotiations will come at us to the talks of Sunday'. We know our mission and try to make it happen, Merkel said at the start of the decisive coalition negotiations of the conservative CDU / CSU and the Social Democrats of the SPD in Berlin.

' How long it will take is impossible to say now '', she added. ' We have done good work on Saturday, but there are still important points that need to be clarified. ''

CDU / CSU wants to conclude the negotiations as quickly as possible, preferably on Sunday. The aim of both camps is to come back to a 'big coalition', as it has been ruling since 2013.