Consumers criticise Merkel after losing key ministries

At least we still have the Chancellor! ”, CDU MP Ollav Gutting said on Twitter, after the SPD managed to obtain key cabinet portfolios such as Financat, Foreign Affairs, Budget and Social Affairs as part of the coalition agreement.

Feelings of concern among the CDU ranks will likely trigger disagreement during a party conference, scheduled on February 26th, where it will be voted for the coalition deal Merkel reached with the SPD over the past three weeks.

As a result, the CDU conference could turn into a major test of Merkel's political authority after more than 12 years as the country's Chancellor.

“The format of cabinet portfolios, as it is now, remains a political error”, another CDU MP, Christian von Stetten, told German public television ARD today.

But, the leader of the Christian Union (CSU), Horst Seehofer and German Chancellor Merkel (CDU)'s bavarese allies, told reporters that the SPD had been very insistent on its demands to take the three leading ministries otherwise would not agree to become part of the new government coalition.

CSU's executive has decided today to approve the new German coalition agreement during a meeting.

The more than 170-page agreement faces an unpredictable vote, out of more than 460 000 SPD members, who have been objecting for weeks to signing an agreement as a new member of the coalition led by Chancellor Merkel.

The results of the SPD vote are expected to be announced on 4 March.

A SPD vote to support the coalition with Merkel for its fourth mandate would eventually end months of political uncertainty in Europe's largest economy after the September elections.

The party's refusal to form a new coalition government could trigger new elections, or perhaps the formation of a minority government led by the CDU-CSU.