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German Chancellor Angela Merkel Wednesday agreed to form a coalition government with campaign rivals the Social Democrats, two months after her conservatives won elections but fell short of a full majority. Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), their Bavarian allies the CSU and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) agreed the deal after marathon talks lasting 17 hours before bleary-eyed party leaders formally presented it to a meeting of some 75 delegates from all three parties. In the tense round of talks, following weeks of political horse-trading, the centre-left SPD scored several key concessions, including the introduction of a national minimum wage from 2015, while Merkel stuck to her guns on her own red-line issue and blocked higher taxes for the rich. The chancellor now hopes to be sworn in for a third term on December 17 as leader of Europe's biggest economy, but a key hurdle remains: a binding SPD membership ballot next month must still sign off on the proposed left-right 'grand coalition'.
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