CDU leader Friedrich Merz wants a coalition with the SPD and announces first talks: He has the full support of the presidium and the federal executive committee, said Merz in Berlin. He mentioned foreign and security policy, migration and securing industrial jobs as areas of overlap. There could be initial exploratory talks next week. Merz said that Germany needed a government that was able to govern quickly and had a parliamentary majority behind it. rnd.de, faz.net

• CSU leader Markus Söder said in Munich that he believes a change of direction with the SPD is „arrangeable“. He sees the CDU/CSU and SPD as having a shared responsibility to prevent extreme forces from gaining further strength in a future governing coalition. „This is truly democracy’s last stand,“ Söder said. spiegel.de, n-tv.de
• SPD leader Lars Klingbeil said it was not certain whether the SPD would enter government. The ball was in Merz’s court, he said, adding that the SPD would have to make a move. The yardstick for talks should be what was right for the country, but also for social democracy. Klingbeil confirmed that he would stand for the office of parliamentary faction leader; the presidium had unanimously accepted the proposal of acting faction leader Rolf Mützenich. zeit.de, spiegel.de
• SPD leader Saskia Esken wants to hold on to her post even after the election defeat. She praised Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his election campaign, saying he had „fought like a lion“. stern.de
• The Green Party’s chancellor candidate, Robert Habeck, no longer wants to play a leading role in his party. More would have been possible with a better election result. It was his idea to position the Greens as a centrist party. However, this did not lead to success. n-tv.de, tagesschau.de
• Ex-Green Party leader Omid Nouripour is being considered for the post of Bundestag Vice President; Britta Haßelmann is also a possible candidate in the event that Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock replaces her as co-faction leader alongside Katharina Dröge. tagesspiegel.de
• FDP deputy Wolfgang Kubicki is considering running for party leadership in May. On Sunday evening, the 73-year-old had originally announced his retirement from politics. Kubicki criticized the FDP for not presenting a united front in the election campaign. Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, a member of the European Parliament, also emphasized that she was prepared to take on responsibility. Bettina Stark-Watzinger, leader of the FDP in Hesse, announced that she would no longer be standing for party office. ndr.de (Kubicki); tagesspiegel.de (Strack-Zimmermann); hessenschau.de (Stark-Watzinger)
• Volker Wissing on the break-up of his former party: „Tying the FDP to the CDU was a strategic mistake.“ tagesspiegel.de
• The Left Party wants to systematically dampen AfD support with social policies and a citizen-oriented approach. This could take four to eight years, said party leader Ines Schwerdtner. Party leader Jan von Aken said that the Left Party is willing to cooperate when a two-thirds majority is needed. He cited the debt brake as an example. zeit.de

Gaza negotiations at risk: The radical Islamist Hamas movement is refusing to accept the suspension of the release of Palestinian prisoners and is apparently considering breaking off the indirect talks. Hamas representative Basem Naim told Reuters that they would refuse further negotiations to implement the ceasefire with Israel as long as Palestinian prisoners are not released as agreed. Israel had announced that it would postpone the release of hundreds of Palestinians until Hamas agreed to refrain from humiliating ceremonies during future releases of Israeli hostages. zdf.de

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pays tribute to the resistance of his countrymen against the invaders on the third anniversary of the Russian attack: He thanks everyone who defends and supports Ukraine; he is proud of the commitment of its citizens. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, among others, traveled to a summit of supporters in Kiev. She announced further aid payments of 3.5 billion euros. Several Western heads of state and government accepted Zelenskyi’s invitation, including Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. He promised a new military aid package worth one billion euros. The Nordic and Baltic states also pledged further support. faz.net, tagesschau.de, zdf.de

• According to von der Leyen, Ukraine could join the EU before 2030, provided that the government in Kiev continues the reforms at the current pace and with the same diligence. EU Council President Antonio Costa called a possible EU accession the most important security guarantee for the future of Ukraine.
• EU has imposed further sanctions on Russia. The new measures include a ban on aluminum imports and tougher action against the Russian shadow fleet. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that each package of sanctions deprives the Kremlin of the resources it needs to wage war. stern.de
• Putin said that European representatives were welcome in negotiations for peace in Ukraine; the Europeans could not make any demands of Russia. t-online.de
• Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin would accept European peacekeepers in Ukraine as part of a possible agreement to end the war, US President Donald Trump said at a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Washington. Macron called for greater European participation in the talks. He spoke of concrete talks on an action plan to achieve a lasting peace, in which Ukraine would be involved. tagesschau.de
• Trump said he would meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this week or next. The focus of the meeting will be an agreement for US access to raw materials stored in Ukraine. Trump said they are very close to an agreement. „We are helping Ukraine like no one has ever helped Ukraine before,“ the US president said. He does not want the war in Ukraine to escalate into a Third World War. spiegel.de