German relationship remained vital for the development of the European Union. A coalition deal between Merkel's conservatives and Schroeder's Social Democrats will make her Germany's first woman chancellor but gives the Social Democrats great influence over the pace of economic reform. The coalition deal broke a political deadlock that had gripped Germany since Merkel's conservatives won a narrow victory in a Sept. 18 election but too few votes to form a government with her reform-minded liberal allies.
