The new parliamentary leader and party co-leader of Germany's Social Democrats (SPD), Lars Klingbeil, criticises a decision by the conservative CDU/CSU bloc to launch a request in the Bundestag about the financing of several NGOs. "The CDU/CSU must now clarify for itself how seriously it wants to enter into talks with the Social Democrats," Klingbeil adds in Berlin, as the centre-right alliance led by Friedrich Merz is already eyeing up the SPD as its preferred coalition partner. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES