Germany sees calls for quick decisions on new government

By GEIR MOULSON
Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) — Pressure is growing for a quick start to talks on Germany’s next government as newly elected lawmakers hold their first meetings and tensions simmer in outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s bloc, which declined to its worst-ever result in the country’s election. The narrow winners of Sunday’s parliamentary election, the center-left Social Democrats of Olaf Scholz, on Tuesday underlined their hopes of talks soon with the likely kingmakers in a new government. Hopes in Merkel’s center-right Union bloc of holding on to the chancellery appeared to be fading, with the rival who lost out to Armin Laschet to be the bloc’s candidate to succeed Germany’s longtime leader sounding pessimistic.