66% of Social Democratic Party’s (SPD) members said they back the agreement to form a new CDU/CSU-SPD coalition government. The vote that was held in Germany yesterday gave the green light to the creation a new grand coalition, the so-called “GroKo”, which will finally be able to rule the country. It took five and a half months of talks and negotiations since the elections on 24 September to reach a coalition deal. “It is good for democracy. It is good for our country. Now there are many issues to be addressed with a shared responsibility”, said Thomas Sternberg, President of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZDK). The next task is the appointment of a government team. Angela Merkel is due to be sworn in for a fourth term as chancellor on 14 March. Since the outcome of the September elections has been disappointing particularly for the SPD, but also for the CDU-CSU, the new “grand coalition” will have a majority of 53%, down from 67% in the previous term.