German Chancellor Angela Merkel is aiming for a rapid round of talks with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) to forge a new coalition to end the current political deadlock in Europe's biggest economy following September's inclusive elections.
"We are now concentrating on forming a stable government," Merkel said on Monday ahead of Wednesday's meeting with SPD leader Martin Schulz.
"The world is actually waiting for us to act," she said, adding that both France and Europe needed a stable government in Berlin.
The chancellor was also speaking after a round of meetings of leaders of her conservative Christian Democrats (CDU).
The CDU meetings had been called to prepare for Wednesday's meeting with the SPD, which Merkel hopes will lead to a rerun of the Conservative-SPD coalition that she has headed for eight of her 12 years in power.
But despite the SPD agreeing at a party conference last week to open talks with Merkel, there is widespread scepticism among its rank and file about rejoining a Merkel-led coalition after the party's support sank to its lowest level since 1949 at the September election.
SPD officials have warned that if the party agreed to team up again with Merkel's CDU and its Bavarian CSU allies it could take until March before a new government is in place, leaving the chancellor as head of a caretaker administration until then.
Merkel acknowledged the differences between her conservative political bloc and the SPD, but she insisted that there were "a whole series of overlaps" between the two parties.
