German Social Democrat leader Martin Schulz said on Friday he backs launching formal coalition negotiations with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, saying talks so far had achieved "excellent results."
However, Schulz - who insisted straight after elections in September that his party would go into opposition - now has to convince a reluctant SPD to sign up again as the junior partner in a Merkel-led coalition.
A party conference is scheduled for January 21 to decide whether formal coalition talks can start.
Spearheaded by the SPD's youth wing, a group of party members have already launched a campaign for the SPD to go into opposition so as to allow it to regroup after its disastrous showing in the September poll.
