Merkel to visit Paris in first foreign trip after re-election

Fresh from her expected re-election as chancellor, Angela Merkel will head to Paris on Wednesday for talks ahead of an EU leaders summit that will focus on joint defence policy, France's foreign minister has announced.
"On Wednesday evening, Mrs Merkel will be in France," Laurent Fabius said on Europe 1 radio.
Merkel is due to be formally re-elected Tuesday by the Bundestag lower house of parliament after a near three-month political limbo in Germany, and the Paris visit will be the first foreign trip of her third term as chancellor.
Merkel and her Christian Democratic Union won a parliamentary election in September but fell short of an absolute majority, sparking nearly three months of negotiations with the second place Social Democrats (SPD) to form a new coalition government.

A coalition deal was finally approved last day and Merkel's new-look cabinet will be sworn in on Tuesday.
Fabius said that the presence of the SPD in the coalition government "changes things from a social standpoint."
The SPD set as a condition for joining Merkel in a power-sharing government the implementation of Germany's first minimum wage.
Merkel's visit will come before an EU leaders summit due to take place Thursday and Friday in Brussels, that will look closely at joint defence policy.