BERLIN, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- The leadership committee of the Christian Social Union (CSU) has unanimously approved the new "grand coalition" agreement with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and German Social Democrats (SPD) on Thursday.
CSU leader informed press of the decision at the executive meeting in Munich. The Bavarian regional party was thus the first of the prospective coalition partners to finally confirm that would it would support Chancellor Angela Merkel's (CDU) fourth governing cabinet.
Seehofer emphasized that his party was very content with the ministries it had been allocated under the recent coalition agreement. The result demonstrated that the CSU's voice was heard in the German capital Berlin, as well as in Munich.
Nevertheless, Seehofer said that the CSU leadership would observe future developments diligently to ensure that the policy proposals formulated in the contract would be implemented in the way originally intended by the party. The former governor of Bavaria noted that he could not remember reading a coalition agreement with a higher density of projects.
Seehofer himself will head an expanded interior ministry in the next federal government. Questioned on the rationale of a newly-created "homeland" sub-department, he responded that it would chiefly concern itself with the "cultural traditions" of Germans, as well as structural issues such as quality of life in rural areas. The CSU leader noted that an equivalent department had already been created at a regional level within the Bavarian finance ministry with "great success."
CSU regional leader and senior negotiator Alexander Dobrindt shared Seehofer's optimism with view to the final coalition agreement. Dobrindt highlighted that the CSU had never shied away from its "duty of responsibility" and described the field which he would concern himself with as minister for digitalization as a "huge topic" for the future.
The CDU leadership is widely-expected to be the second "grand coalition partner" to formalize its approval to establish a federal government on the basis of the recent agreement in an upcoming party conference. In contrast to the other two parties, SPD leader Martin Schulz must still obtain permission from his party's more than 400,000 members in a referendum to form part of another cabinet under Chancellor Merkel.
