Conservative leader Friedrich Merz is on course to become post-World War II Germany's 10th chancellor after finalizing a deal Wednesday to form a new government.Merz, 69, who will succeed outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz,

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.

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.