Conservative leader Friedrich Merz is on course to become post-World War II Germany's 10th chancellor after finalizing a deal Wednesday to form a new government. Merz, 69, who will succeed outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz,

The agreement was concluded relatively quickly but still took about six and half weeks, during which the country had been virtually rudderless at a critical moment for Europe.

The chancellor-in-waiting's conservatives have reached a coalition agreement with Germany's Social Democrats, five months after the last government collapsed.