“The deal reached last night is a new departure for the EU”, said Martin Schulz, the leader of the Social Democrat party (SPD), speaking on 12 January after talks with the Christian Democrat party (CDU) under Angela Merkel and its sister party from Bavaria (CSU) under Horst Seehofer to prepare a coalition government in Germany.
The compromise reached has still to be validated by the SPD congress on 21 January before talks strictly speaking begin. The government contract should then in...