German foes 'form state alliance'

Getting cosier with the Greens could provide more options for Ms Merkel

Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative CDU party is poised to forge a highly unusual state coalition with its former political foe, the Greens.

The agreement, which could serve as a model for a future national alliance, is expected to be announced later.

Hamburg's CDU mayor has been courting the Greens after failing to win a majority in the northern port city.

Ole von Beust's moves have been fully supported by Ms Merkel but they have angered some of the party's hardliners.

The parties are expected to sign the historic coalition deal in the evening.

In the past, the open animosity between members of the two parties has often made headlines.

"It's one of the rules of German politics that parties never try it out at the federal level until it's been tried, and works, at the state level," political scientist Julia von Blumenthal, of the University of Giessen, told Reuters.

"It's the step needed to build trust with the erstwhile party of strangers."

A national election is due in 2009 and analysts say that with traditional alliances in flux, a "black-green" coalition - named after the parties' colours - might broaden Ms Merkel's future options.