(5.3.2018) Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday she would work with France to tackle pressing issues such as trade policy and the war in Syria after the Social Democrats (SPD) voted to join a coalition government with her conservatives. Merkel welcomed the vote by a majority of SPD members that ended more than five months of political deadlock in Europe’s largest economy after an inconclusive election and said the right-left government must quickly get to work.