Katrin Goering-Eckardt, a top negotiator with the Greens who also participated, said Sunday’s gathering had smoothed the waters for now. “Now we’ll have to see if it has any effect on the talks this week,” she said.

Peter Tauber, secretary general of Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU), said sideline comments last week and over the weekend had been unhelpful, but he viewed the current atmosphere as ”positive and constructive.