To Germany where political leaders say a new government may not be in place for another three months. CGTN's Guy Henderson has the latest from Berlin.

GUY HENDERSON BERLIN German Chancellor Angela Merkel is known for her ability to build political consensus.  She is going to have her work cut out for her heading into these talks to form a new coalition government.

They will kind of start in Berlin on Wednesday — when Merkel's center right Christian Democrats sit down with their conservative sister party the Christian Social Union, and the center left Social Democrats. But only to discuss what topics should be on the agenda for "exploratory talks" due to begin on Sunday — the over-arching theme of which will be whether it's even possible to start formal coalition negotiations.

Those heading into the talks a little earlier here in Berlin.  Political leaders express some hopes of being able to make a deal, but not until the end of March, potentially. 

HORST SEEHOFER LEADER, CHRISTIAN SOCIAL UNION "If everything runs positively, coalition negotiations and a government formation - yes, like I said, at the very latest it has to be sealed by Easter. But there is not a lot of time left if you take a close look at the calendar."

GUY HENDERSON BERLIN "But both the CSU and the SPD are beginning to draw early lines in the sand at the moment — they have essentially been dragged into compromises by Chancellor Merkel, as leader of the largest party in the coalition these last few years, on key issues like migration. And that cost them a lot of votes in September's elections: with the CSU criticized for not being tough enough; the SPD for being too tough.

And neither are keen to move too far from their political base now — which are on opposite sides of the political centre.

Meanwhile, Europe watches on impatiently — particularly perhaps France: where President Emmanuel Macron wants to use a renewed surge in his popularity back home to start work on reforming the European Union — but he’s still waiting for a callback from a caretaker Chancellor who's hardly in a position to sign off on a new direction for the EU without a new government in place. And that's likely still months away. GH, CGTN, BERLIN