By Andreas Rinke, Vera Eckert and Matthias Williams BERLIN (Reuters) -German election winner Friedrich Merz's conservatives and the Social Democrats (SPD) concluded preliminary talks on forming a coalition government on Saturday,

German election winner Friedrich Merz's conservatives and the Social Democrats (SPD) have concluded preliminary talks towards forming a coalition government, heads of the parties said on Saturday.

Germany’s conservative bloc and the Social Democrats agreed to deepen talks over forming a new government, a step forward as pressure builds on Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz to implement sweeping reforms.

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) have agreed on a framework document for further negotiations on forming a government, according to Der Spiegel. Less than two weeks after the early elections to the Bundestag,

Election winner Friedrich Merz's conservative CDU, its Bavarian sister party CSU, and the Social Democrats (SPD) have taken a major step toward forming a coalition government, the heads of the parties said.