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epa03930009 (L-R) Bavaria's Finance Minister Markus Soeder (CSU), the president of the European parliament, Martin Schulz (SPD) and the chairman of the CDU/CSU group in the European parliament, Herbert Reul, hold a press conference in the Willy-Brandt-Haus in Berlin, Germany, 30 October 2013. A new set of German policies on Europe was taking shape during talks to form a new coalition government between German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats and the country's Social Democrats. Some 75 senior politicians, including Merkel, met at SPD headquarters in Berlin to sign off on the policies, seen as the easiest issue to settle as the blocs continue to wrangle over issues such as a legally mandated minimum wage for all of Germany. EPA/MAURIZIO GAMBARINI