The German Social Democratic Party (SPD) announced on Wednesday that its members had approved by a large majority the proposed coalition government with the conservatives.
Members of the centre-left party voted 84.6% in favour of the government alliance with the conservative CDU/CSU, which won the 23 February general election, the SPD announced.
Friedrich Merz is set to be officially elected to the top job of Chancellor on Tuesday 6 May by members of the Bundestag, the lower house of the German Parliament.
His conservative CDU/CSU party, which won the 23 February general election, has decided to form an alliance with the SPD, ruling out any collaboration with the far-right AfD, which came in second place.
There are many challenges ahead for Merz. He will take the helm of Europe's leading economic power amid a growing Russian threat and unpredictable relationship with the US under Donald Trump's administration.
This geopolitical context has driven both Germany and Europe to spend more on defence. Germany has already taken steps to do so by adopting a massive investment programme worth hundreds of billions of euros to rearm and modernise the country. To this end, it has relaxed the sacrosanct national rules limiting public deficit.
On Monday, Merz assured that his country would "once again", after years of withdrawal under Olaf Scholz's government, "assume its responsibilities as a leader in Europe and with the other members of the European Union."
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In the new government, the key finance post will go to a Social Democrat, Lars Klingbeil, co-chair of the party, who will also be vice-chancellor, announced party secretary-general Matthias Miersch on Wednesday.
The identities of the six other Social Democratic ministers, who are expected to include the highly popular Boris Pistorius, who already held the defence portfolio under Scholz, are to be officially announced on Monday 5 May, added Miersch.
Merz has already announced his team, which includes Johann Wadephul as foreign minister, a staunch supporter of Ukraine and a former soldier and long-time MP.
