German Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz has unveiled a new coalition deal between the country’s two major centrist parties in a bold and optimistic speech in Berlin on Wednesday, hours after it was announced that an agreement to form a new government had been reached.

The agreement was concluded relatively quickly but still took about six and half weeks, during which the country had been virtually rudderless at a critical moment for Europe.

The agreement paves the way for Germany’s CDU, CSU and SPD to form the country’s new government with Friedrich Merz as chancellor.