BERLIN, 16 October 2021, (TON): German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz yesterday took a step closer to succeeding Angela Merkel as chancellor, as his Social Democrats, the Greens and liberal FDP announced a preliminary deal to form a new government.

The three parties have been holding talks since Scholz's centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) won the general elections on September 26 with Merkel's conservatives in second place as she prepares to leave politics.

Scholz told reporters "overall, we can sense here that a new beginning is possible, brought about by the three parties that have come together here.”

He said "we have agreed on a text from the exploratory talks,", calling it a "very good result that clearly shows that a government that aims to ensure we achieve progress can be formed in Germany".

Greens co-leader Annalena Baerbock said the initial agreement heralds a "coalition of progress" to "really use the next decade as a decade of renewal".

The agreement that will form the basis of formal coalition talks all but means that Merkel's CDU-CSU alliance is headed for the opposition benches after scoring their worst post-war election result.