German parliament set to elect Merz as chancellor on May 6

Germany's parliament plans to meet on May 6 to elect Friedrich Merz as the country's next chancellor, if all parties in his proposed government approve a coalition agreement, Report informs via Euronews.

Parliament’s lower house, the Bundestag, said on Monday that Speaker Julia Klockner is preparing to call the session early next month.

Merz's center-right Christian Democrats (CDU), its sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) last week reached an agreement to form a government more than six weeks after Germany's snap federal election.

The would-be coalition aims to spur economic growth, boost defense spending, take a tougher approach to migration and catch up on long-neglected modernization.

Combined, the three parties have a modest majority of 328 out of 630 seats in the Bundestag. Since no party wants to work with the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) — which finished second in the February 23 election — no other plausible combination of governing parties has a parliamentary majority.

Both the CDU and the SPD — the party of the departing chancellor, Olaf Scholz — need to approve the coalition agreement before parliament can gather to elect Merz. The CSU approved it last week.

The SPD is set to hold a member vote, whilst the CDU will vote during a party conference slated for April 28.