Germany's conservative CSU approved a coalition deal with its CDU sister party and the Social Democrats (SPD) on Thursday, a day after they presented a programme to revive growth in Europe's biggest economy and take a tougher line on migration.

After weeks of negotiations, the conservative CDU/CSU bloc and center-left SPD presented a coalition deal to form a new government. Talks took on a sense of urgency amid a host of global and domestic challenges.

Germany's chancellor-in-waiting and leader of the Christian Democratic Union party (CDU) Friedrich Merz, Christian Social Union (CSU) leader and Bavarian Premier Markus Soeder, co-leaders of the Social Democratic party (SPD) Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil walk to attend a press conference after reaching an agreement on their coalition government in Berlin,