Pledging stability, German SPD seeks three-way alliance to succeed Merkel

Social Democratic Party (SPD) leader and top candidate for chancellor Olaf Scholz, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig and SPD member Franziska Giffey wave as they carry bouquets of flowers at their party leadership meeting, one day after the German general elections, in Berlin, Germany, September 27, 2021. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

BERLIN (Reuters) -German Social Democrat Olaf Scholz vowed on Monday to strengthen the European Union and keep up the transatlantic partnership in a three-way coalition government he hopes to form by Christmas to take over from Angela Merkel's conservatives.

Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) came first in Sunday's national election, just ahead of the conservatives, and aim to lead a government for the first time since 2005 in a coalition with the Greens and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP).