GERMANY NEWS

BERLIN:Germany’s second biggest party said on sunday its members have in their high stakes referendum approved a plan to join Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition, clearing the last hurdle in the way of the veteran learder’s fourth term .

But the Chancellor, in power for 12 years, will go into her fourth term with far weaker cards than before ,as she had to pay a high price to coax the reluctant social Democratic party back into another loveless “grand coalition”.

Two in three of the SPD’s rank and file backed a new partnership with Merkel’s conservatives, heralding an end to the political stalemate that has plagued Europe’s biggest economy since September’s inconclusive election.