German coalition deal 'important', says Italian PM

Berlin  :  Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, who is visiting Germany, on Wednesday hailed the breakthrough deal struck between Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative CDU/CSU alliance and the Social Democrats (SPD), calling it "important".

"It is important that agreement has been reached on a coalition governent in Germany," Gentiloni said in a speech on Italian-German relations at Berlin's Humbolt university.

"And it is an important result for stability - in Europe and in Italy," he said.

Gentiloni cut short his official visit after Merkel postponed a meeting with him until February 15 when the marathon negotiations between the CDU, CSU and SPD stretched into Wednesday from a weekend deadline.

Merkel reportedly phoned Gentiloni herself to tell him that she needed to delay their meeting.

Gentiloni is currently in the middle of an election campaign ahead of March 4 polls in which his ruling centre-left Democratic Party is trailing the populist Five-Star Movement and a conservative bloc led by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.