Merkel's conservatives to hold second round of coalition talks with Greens

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives will hold another round of coalition talks with the Green Party following their exploratory talks on Thursday evening, as Merkel's party is looking for a partner to rule the Europe's largest economy for the next four years.

Merkel's bloc of Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party Christian Social Union (CSU) and the environmentalist Greens said they will meet again next Tuesday to discuss issues untouched in the meeting, including arms exports and asylum policy.

The Greens'co-chairman Cem Ozdemir said the atmosphere at the meeting was "positive"and "friendly" with the necessary seriousness. The party, which calls for more efforts on clean energy and greater rights for immigrants, captured 8.4 percent in the federal election on Sept. 22.

The CDU/CSU bloc and the Greens have never shared power at the national level and there is skepticism on both sides on whether the two parties would be able to bridge their differences.Merkel's conservatives already held the first round of coalition talks with the Social Democrats (SPD) last Friday with both sides agreeing to continue the talks next Monday.

Merkel's CDU/CSU bloc proved to be the biggest winner with 41.5 percent of votes in the federal election. However, without a majority of the parliament seats, it has to find a partner to form a coalition in order to rule the Europe's largest economy for the next four years.

A repeat of so-called "grand coalition" between CDU/CSU and SPD, as in Merkel's first term in 2005-2009, was supported by most Germans, recent polls showed.