need to upgrade i think it's only the beginning of this site schuman machines starting february first on t w. this is d w news from berlin a nailbiting vote with a narrow margin a decisive moment here in germany as the social democrats vote to begin coalition talks with uncle american conservatives. since there were six hundred forty two votes three hundred sixty two people voted yes and two hundred seventy nine voted no there was one of stench and as such the s.p.d.

will embark on formal coalition negotiations that the grave for formal discussions on forming a government bringing germany a step closer to ending months of political uncertainty. i'm brant goff it's good to have you with us after months of political uncertainty germany is one step closer tonight to forming a stable government the country's social democratic party has voted to enter a formal coalition talks with chancellor angela merkel's conservators and initial show of hands too close to call in the vote so every vote more than six hundred delegates at the party conference had to be counted individually the outcome a narrow majority in favor of moving toward. those negotiation talks between the

s.p.d. americans conservative bloc are now expected to get underway. this coming week. but first the big collective sigh after what we've sold today i'm joined here at the big table by our chief political correspondent melinda crane we were watching it together along with thomas sparrow who is in bonn he's at that as speedy congress thomas let me start with you i mean after what we just experienced the last couple of hours i said at the top of the show nail biting i mean there must there must be this huge sigh of relief there that you're experiencing right now among the delegates. this was certainly one of the most exciting party conferences that i've covered you could clearly sense here in this hole in the tension just as a delegates were costing their votes just as the result was hurt a result that is particularly important for the social democrats as they decide to embark on those formal talks with the conservatives but also an important vote for

germany because it brings this uncertainty at least closer to to an end it was indeed a very important day here for the social democrats and it will be also an important process the one that's about to start to the social democrats and in particular the social democratic leadership clearly knows that they have to deliver that they have to get success but they have to get some of their proposals set in stone during these upcoming negotiations if they want the party members to vote and to decide in favor of a grand coalition the party members it's important to stress will have the final say from the perspective of the social democrats and whether to enter a grand coalition melinda's or we go from one degree of uncertainty now to the next right because the promises made today to get this yes vote those promises are big

ones and they have to be delivered yes they didn't set up these new additions to the negotiating platform as conditions that was actually what two biggest and most powerful state groups wanted they had said we want three additional conditions that essentially have to be met in a final coalition agreement in order to say that we even should go ahead with negotiations now as it turns out overnight the s.p.d. party leadership said ok on these three points we are willing to come back to discussions with the concern. it is and see what we can still get in the way of concessions that they did not promise to deliver nonetheless by agreeing to reopen talks on those points essentially day they did set the bar a bit higher in terms of expectations and the big question is are the conservatives did the conservatives perhaps signal behind the scenes to the s.p.d.

party leadership yes those are points on which maybe we can talk again or her is this wishful thinking in which case we may find that at the end of the road even if they have negotiations and come up with a platform that or a coalition contract that in fact then these hundreds of thousands of party members say no days saying no and let me ask you about this the idea that the conservatives or the chancellor herself signaled to the s.p.d. leadership that the there is the possibility of wiggling room negotiation on topics what do you think about that did you hear anyone there talking about that being a possibility and explaining why we heard martin schultz the head of the s.p.d. saying today that you know everything is still on the table. well officially the conservatives have been saying for quite some time that there is very little room

for maneuver when it comes to. possible coalition discussions with the social democrats but obviously it can't be the case that the social democrats here as martin showed himself said what they want some sort of progress on these talks they don't believe that the agreements that they reached during the preliminary talks so-called exploratory talks are simply set in stone they want to be able to negotiate further in fact that was part of martin shows his strategy today that was part of his speech today on the one hand he stressed all the things that they had already in his opinion managed to achieve in that document and that agreement with the conservatives for example in areas like social justice or europe europe being a particularly important area for martin shows but he also stressed in his speech that there is there has to be room that they want to be able to further discuss issues with the conservatives and that everything that they already agreed is not everything that they will agree on i think that was a key argument to convince some of the delegates here who believe probably like

martin shows that the party can do more if they're in government that they can probably shape policy if they have that possibility instead of doing it from the opposition or some of those. who preferred the party not to enter another grand coalition. thomas sparrow there at the party conference in ball thomas thank you very much. so melinda the question is is it a done deal dana we going to see this in a repeat of a grand coalition is it going to take place because as you said all as pretty party members have to vote on the contract so what do you think what's your gut tell you right now in the least is it under the opponents of another grand coalition made it very clear in the run up to this vote this isn't the end for us if if the party members do agree to go ahead with negotiations we're going to take this to the people now you can bet that the yes side to the party leadership will also be

taking it to the people so there's going to be an intensive campaign ahead of us we're really seeing this party wrestling with this self it's fascinating if you're interested in the mechanisms of party party debate but it's not at all clear what happens then at the end of that road so i think for the chancellor she will have been watching this very carefully and she may to some degree feel an additional bit of pressure now do that the fact that these three issues have been mentioned and but i think she's also feeling pressure from within our own party from her own conservatives who are saying look we were not going to bend on those let's find out melinda if there have been any reaction from the chairs or our correspondent to other parts joins us now from the chancellor rhee she's been covering the story from there and e.v.g.a. usual otto's so has there been any reaction any word from america to what we saw

today with the s.p.d. . good evening brant no no immediate reaction from the chancellor herself though we are guessing there must have been a sigh of relief behind me in the chancellor rhee when she when she found out that the s.p.d. actually voted to pick up the formal coalition talks we are hearing though from other conservatives especially on social media congratulating the social democrats to the positive vote saying you have taken up the responsibility now to to at least try to form a government and that is the right thing to do that is the moral thing to do but we have also are already hurt from the bavarian system a member for example saying look social democrats they won't be any concessions that we are making at the exploratory talks so those results that we have agreed upon those will be discussed now in the coalition talks but we won't make any concessions and that is the interesting question that you just discussed with women

also in the city oh how far are the conservatives the willing to to go to really form this grand coalition in the end and how far are the social democrats willing to go so it's going to be some interesting weeks ahead when we head into the coalition talks and the conservatives are actually meeting tonight here in berlin at seven pm to discuss when and how to take up these coalition talks we are expecting this to happen pretty immediately starting in early february and joe as you know we've talked about. politics many times and we've dealt with this grand coalition equation many times this is nothing new. how credible is it for these parties the conservatives as well as the social democrats to tell their voters and their members that they're negotiating and as if the parties on the other side of the table were something new and something that's beer to be

discovered i mean that's just not true is it i mean they know each other they they've been governing together there are new elements of surprise left or am i wrong. no i think you are right i mean these parties both parties have been governing together as you said for the past four years so the politicians know each other very well and we've seen that in the exploratory talks that i've covered these past weeks they had pretty much quick results in the beginning because they they they've known each other they work together they know what they want but. that also means that this continuation of a grand coalition is lacking the big ideas those ideas that might change germany in one way or the other and they are looking really clear policy goals so that is something that especially the social democratic membership base didn't didn't like

and yeah we will see if the coalition talks will bring bring something else to light but it does seem like we will see a continuation of the policy that we've had for the past four years and let me ask you last but not least the future of think it was melinda said that maybe there will be a what was it a tapering off of the air or in germany paul would six i mean how would you describe the situation the future for angle america beginning tonight. i mean observers here in berlin have set for years that twilight has come and they said that during the refugee crisis of two thousand and fifteen they are saying this now but i think melinda's right fund when she's talking about it tapering off miccolis so losing power also within her own party she has set right from the beginning there is no alternative to this grand coalition she doesn't see the

possibility of a minority government should these coalition talks fail in the end. and the other alternative would be new elections which she has said she would pose as a candidate as a candidate for chancellor one more time but of course this long process and the devastating loss for the conservatives in the past election that means that she is losing power and slowly we can see that within her own party as well. still tiny but growing up position is forming there and it does seem like slowly successes possible successors to a rising within the conservative party ok show of support outside the chancery where it looks cold i don't know if it is i'm sure it is but it looks cold out there thank you very much going to get more thank you. melinda all of the points that we talked about today for the for the social democrats point of contention not one of them and the thing to do with the european union and the european project

i'm so glad you mentioned that because in fact i wanted to say that i think there is one thing in this position paper that they have now agreed to use is the basis for a coalition to go the that doesn't solve the vision and that we can get excited about ok what and that's policy in europe and i think for me that is one of the most crucial aspects to what a potential grand coalition really can achieve we've got emmanuel mccall in paris waiting for an answer from berlin he wants. lind to be part of this project and without berlin his project probably will founder and macro himself may not find himself in power indefinitely so that's a good point i think there is something that yes grand coalition we've seen it before but we haven't seen it asserting a real vision for europe and i think that might be able to happen this time around

so for those who think we need movement in europe then i think i think there is something to look forward to let's pull in brussels correspondent barbara vai's all she's been following this very exciting day in german politics with us he needs to you barbara so let me ask you you've spent a lot of time covering politics in france in paris let's talk about micro in america will and the future of the e.u. . is he breathing a sigh of relief based on what happened tonight with the social democrats. definitely so we saw on friday evening uncle america visiting and manu in the kremlin paris and that was sort of like a ceremonial visits because they really didn't have anything concrete to talk about but it was a sign that he wanted to show that she is my partner i need her in europe i need her to sort of do anything to move things and it was just

a day after he had come back from seeing a series or may in may in britain so he really made quite clear that.