The Latest: German parties agree plans for coalition talks

BERLIN – The Latest on talks to form a government in Germany (all times local):

9:30 a.m.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Union bloc and the center-left Social Democrats have agreed upon a 28-page paper outlining the basis for moving ahead with formal coalition talks.

Lawmaker Julia Kloeckner, part of the negotiating team for Merkel's Christian Democrats, tweeted a photo of the cover of the document Friday morning.

She says "many, many hours of work, serious wrangling and shaping are contained in these 28 pages."

The result came after a more than 24-hour session, which capped a week of negotiations.

Dorothee Baer, of the CDU's Bavarian-only sister Christian Social Union, tweeted a photo of the agreement's cover page in her hand just before 9 a.m., saying "still quite warm."

Details were expected to be released later in the morning.

___

9:10 a.m.

Leaders of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Union bloc and the center-left Social Democrats have reportedly agreed on the basis to move ahead with coalition negotiations after marathon overnight talks.

The dpa news agency and other German media, citing talks participants, reported Friday that the party leaders were preparing to recommend formal coalition negotiations after hashing out compromises on wide-ranging issues.

The Social Democrats' leaders will still have to sell the coalition to their membership, and face much resistance. But if the talks had failed Merkel's only options remaining would have been to form a minority government or hold new elections.

The Social Democrats had initially ruled out another coalition with Merkel after poor results in the Sept. 24 election, but reconsidered after her talks with two other parties failed.