Germany's Greens and FDP ready for talks on centre-left coalition

Berlin (dpa) - Germany's Green Party and Free Democrats (FDP) said on Wednesday they were ready for formal, three-way talks with the Social Democrats (SPD) about forming a coalition government, after elections last month left it unclear as to which parties could command a majority in parliament.

"We have accepted the proposal of talks with the SPD," said FDP party leader Christian Lindner in Berlin on Wednesday, shortly after a similar statement from the Greens' Annalena Baerbock.

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Talks to form a so-called "Jamaica" coalition with the conservative CDU/CSU bloc and the Greens, however, remained an option, Lindner emphasized.

The FDP would only enter a centrist government that strengthened the "value of freedom" and provided a real impetus for the renewal of the country, Lindner said, adding that liberal policies were what counted.

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Reporting by: Martina Herzog, Andreas Hoenig and Joerg Ratzsch in Berlin

Editing by: Tom Masters,

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