Germany's preliminary coalition talks have been extended beyond a Thursday night deadline set by Chancellor Angela Merkel as the four parties remain divided with coal plant closures and immigration seen as the biggest stumbling blocks for such an unprecedented government formation.
According to national broadcaster ARD, the talks in Berlin will resume at midday after party leaders failed to reach compromises on the remaining open questions debating until the early morning hours.
Despite few specific details having emerged so far, the level of coal plant closures and immigration remain controversial with especially the Bavarian CSU, which has been the traditional partner of the conservative CDU in post-war Germany in a joint parliamentary faction, positioning itself against the Green Party ahead of key regional election in 2018 in Bavaria.
Failure to agree on a basis for a coalition by the party leaders, with those basic positions needing the agreement from the party's memberships, before official coalition negotiations can be launched, would increase uncertainty with new elections or a possible minority government the most likely outcomes as the current coalition partner (SPD) still prefers to lead the opposition after the far-right AfD became the third-biggest party in the September 24 elections.
According to the reports, the amount of coal closures remain controversial after the Green Party on Monday rejected a joint compromise proposal by the FDP and Merkel's CDU/CSU for the closure of 10 of the oldest lignite units with an estimated capacity of 3-5 GW, insisting on their election pledge of closing the 20 most polluting coal plants with up to 10 GW despite signs of flexibility on the final phase-out date of 2030.
On Tuesday, the German environment agency UBA recommended the closure of 5 GW lignite-fired coal plants in addition to already announced 3 GW of closures as well as limiting the annual running hours of hard-coal-fired power plants older than 20 years to 4,000 hours in order to achieve Germany's national emissions targets without endangering security of supply.
