German Social Democrats agree to talks with conservatives, but demand change

Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) have agreed to exploratory talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, SPD leader Martin Schulz has said. However, the process is not expected to automatically result in an agreement to form a new ruling coalition. Schulz said that any agreement would require changes from the conservative-SPD ‘grand coalition’ that ruled Germany for the past four years. Exploratory talks will begin next month, with an SPD congress scheduled for January 14 to consider a possible return to the two-way coalition. A minority government or other options remained possible, according to Reuters.