Germany’s “traffic light“ coalition came into much clearer view on Friday when the SPD, FDP and Greens ended their preliminary talks with a clear recommendation to their parties to enter formal negotiations to form a government. Twelve pages covering all issues from climate change to child poverty will form the basis on which each parties’ ruling bodies can now formally decide about forming a coalition. They will also serve as the backbone to the next rounds of talks. “We are convinced that we can deliver on an ambitious and yet practical and workable coalition agreement“, all three parties said in a joint paper.