(Merkeljewitzs potential SPD partners? Quote: '...  tweeted one of the SPD's deputy leaders, Ralf Stegner. "Always the same recipe: humour the lederhosen public. No sense of rea...' DISRESPECT OF GERMANS!- CDH)-     matchmaker Merkel plans SPD coalition re-run

By Madeline Chambers and Thorsten Severin
ReutersJanuary 3, 2018

German acting Chancellor Merkel poses for photographs after the television recording of her annual New Year's speech at the Chancellery in Berlin
German acting Chancellor Angela Merkel poses for photographs after the television recording of her annual New Year's speech at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, December 30, 2017. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke
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By Madeline Chambers and Thorsten Severin

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's largest parties expressed optimism about the chances of forming a government after several hours of talks between the leaders of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and the Social Democrats (SPD) she hopes to win as coalition partners.

Wednesday's joint statement from the parties, which talked of growing confidence, was good news for Merkel, whose reputation as Europe's consummate consensus-builder is on the line in this second bid to form a coalition government after weeks of sniping between its would-be partn https://www.yahoo.com/news/last-chance-merkel-maneuvers-coalition-run-spd-121916407.html https://www.yahoo.com/news/last-chance-merkel-maneuvers-coalition-run-spd-121916407.html