Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) have agreed to exploratory talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, SPD leader Martin Schulz said, though the process would not automatically result in an agreement to form a new ruling coalition.
Schulz told reporters that Germany needed a new governance culture and that any agreement to govern with conservatives would require changes from the conservative-SPD 'grand coalition' that ruled Germany for the past four years.
He said exploratory talks would begin next month, with a party congress penciled in for Jan. 14 to consider a possible return to the two-way coalition. He said a minority government or other options remained possible.
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