When the Christian Democratic Union and the smaller Free Democratic party sit down for their first coalition talks in more than a decade, they will face considerable work to turn what are markedly different electoral manifestos into a single policy agenda for the next four years.

Angela Merkel, the chancellor, made clear on Monday she was not going to reverse four years of middle-of-the-road policies adopted by her grand coalition with her rival Social Democrats or renege on her centrist electoral manifesto.