Germany’s Merkel announces new centre-right coalition

Berlin: German chancellor Angela Merkel has announced a new, centre-right coalition government with the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP), after nearly four weeks of negotiations over policy which will now guide what is Europe's largest economy. The announcement was made in Berlin after final talks that stretched 12 hours, wrapping up in the early hours of the morning.

''We agreed on a text for the coalition,'' Roland Pofalla, general secretary of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union. ''We're looking forward to our work. We want to bring Germany into a good future.''

Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has come together with the Bavaria-only sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the pro-business Free Democrats.

An FDP convention will vote on the negotiated agreement on Sunday followed a day later by the two Christian Democratic parties. The coalition agreement is expected to receive formal approval on Monday.

Parliament's 611-member lower house convenes on Tuesday, 27 October and is expected to formally re-elect Merkel as chancellor the next day.

Angela Merkel, 55, won a second term in the 27 September elections scoring the CDU's worst result in 60 years, even as the Free Democratic Party scored its best since World War II. The results allowed Merkel to dump the Social Democrats, her junior partner since 2005, and pursue a reform oriented policy.