BERLIN (AP) — Talks on a new German coalition government have entered what participants hope will be their final day.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Union bloc and the center-left Social Democrats originally hoped to finish the job on Sunday, but had budgeted two extra days from the start as a precaution.
If a deal emerges, it still won't be the end of Germany's unprecedentedly long effort to form a new government after an election in September. Any agreement will be put to a ballot of the Social Democrats' membership for approval.
Arriving for the talks Tuesday, Social Democrat leader Martin Schulz said he had "good reason" to believe a deal would emerge "with a good result for our country."
