Home is where the Heimat is - Germans bemused by new ministry

Christian Social Union (CSU) leader Horst Seehofer during a statement together with Social Democratic Party (SPD) leader Martin Schulz and Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader and German Chancellor Angela Merkel after coalition talks to form a new coalition government in Berlin, Germany, February 7, 2018. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke

BERLIN (Reuters) - After years focusing on the hard science of Germany becoming Europe's economic powerhouse, the proposed next government also wants to pursue the gentler art of making it a better homeland.

The coalition deal between Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and the Social Democrats (SPD) includes a plan for a "Heimat", or homeland, ministry, rehabilitating a term that had fallen into abeyance in the post-war era.