D.he outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) has spoken out in favor of dealing well with non-ruling parties. “Even the opposition should be treated well because it can always be the government of tomorrow,” said Merkel at an event in her previous constituency in Greifswald. You experience that in some places now, but it also turns out differently, she said and caused laughter in the audience.
The SPD, Greens and FDP want to start coalition negotiations on Thursday afternoon to form a joint federal government. In the event of such a government, the Union would go into opposition after a long time.
“You can’t work together enough in politics,” said Merkel, also referring to the cooperation between municipalities, states and the federal government. Merkel was with the previous one Bundestag election no longer started. Her successor as a member of the Bundestag with direct mandate, Anna Kassautzki (SPD), also took part in the event.
All developments in the live ticker:
10:13 p.m. – Berlin Left clears the way for coalition negotiations
The way for coalition negotiations between the SPD, the Greens and the Left in Berlin is clear. As the last party committee, a special party congress of the left voted with a clear majority on Tuesday evening for the start of such negotiations on the formation of a government.
7:19 p.m. – End of the unfounded time limit not yet off the table
The longstanding SPD demand for a restriction of the so-called unfounded fixed term of employment contracts is not off the table, according to the words of her chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz, even if the topic does not appear in the exploratory paper with the Greens and FDP. Like the works council strengthening law that failed in the last electoral term, this “is not gone, but is now being entered into the coalition negotiations,” said Scholz in a video conference with SPD supporters. “Let’s see what’s going on.
4.14 p.m. – Kick-off meeting of the traffic light coalition negotiations planned for Thursday
As part of the coalition negotiations between the SPD, Greens and FDP, there is to be a first kick-off meeting on Thursday afternoon. However, there should not yet be any content-related consultations, as the AFP news agency learned on Tuesday. Rather, it should rather be about organizational issues. The actual coalition negotiations would therefore only begin at a later point in time.
So far, it is planned to negotiate in 22 working groups on the formation of a traffic light coalition. The first working group will be entitled “Modern State and Democracy”.
3:35 p.m. – Haseloff sees an exit from coal by 2030 as not feasible
Saxony-Anhalt’s Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (CDU) considers an early exit from coal power targeted by the SPD, Greens and FDP to be hardly feasible. “I see it critically, I don’t see it economically feasible,” said Haseloff in Magdeburg. “There will be an energy gap that we cannot close.”
It is also about political credibility and reliability, said Haseloff. The promise that a new job will be created for every job that is lost cannot be kept if the exit time is halved. The transformation takes time. The coal phase-out by 2038 is based on a law.
Haseloff emphasized: “We have to achieve the climate targets.” But it is not just about the coal sector, climate-damaging carbon dioxide can be saved in many areas. In order to accelerate the coal phase-out, Haseloff brought a kind of special economic zone with simplified approval procedures into play.
11.42 a.m. – Claudia Roth is applying again for a position in the Bundestag Presidium
The longtime Green politician Claudia Roth is applying again for a post in the Presidium of the Bundestag. “As a long-time parliamentarian, I also see it as my job to carry on my joy and passion for our democracy to this new generation,” wrote Roth in a letter to the members of the parliamentary group. First the “Augsburger Allgemeine” reported on it, the letter is also available to the German Press Agency.
The now 66-year-old Roth was elected Vice President of the Bundestag for the first time in 2013 and was re-elected four years ago. Vice-presidents chair the plenary sessions, for example. The President of the Bundestag is usually from the strongest parliamentary group, most recently from the CDU / CSU with Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU). According to parliamentary practice, the post would now have to go to the SPD, which became the strongest force in the federal elections.
09:04 am – Baerbock wants to invest 50 billion euros annually “to modernize the country”
The Greens chairman Annalena Baerbock assumes that 50 billion euros are needed annually to finance the plans of the possible traffic light coalition. “We assume that we need 50 billion euros annually to tackle future tasks and modernize the country,” she said on ZDF.
It had been discussed “to take out possible loans that are possible within the framework of the debt brake for the investments that we need,” said Baerbock. That is possible. Any company can take out a loan from the bank if the machine used to manufacture the product is broken. “This is also the case in serious financial policy,” said Baerbock.
8.45 a.m. – Baerbock wants to start negotiations at the end of the week
The coalition negotiations between the SPD, the Greens and the FDP are to start “at the end of the week”, according to the Greens leader Annalena Baerbock. However, she has not yet given an exact date in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin”. “It will start now at the end of the week. That is exactly what we are now clarifying between the parties, ”she said. When asked whether it would start on Thursday, she said: “We will now see whether it is Thursday, early, late or whenever. We are clarifying that right now. “
07.23 – Greens Vice Lang: There is still much need for clarification with the SPD and FDP
Greens Vice-President Ricarda Lang sees her party facing difficult talks with the SPD and FDP for a possible traffic light coalition. “There is a good foundation, but we still have tough negotiations ahead of us,” she told the newspaper.Handelsblatt“. When it comes to financing, climate protection or social policy, a lot still needs to be clarified with the SPD and FDP.
As part of the Greens exploratory team, Lang negotiated, among other things, the proposals for health and care policy, which were criticized by health insurance companies as insufficient to avert rising contributions for the insured. “We wanted to tackle this problem with citizens’ insurance. This could not be done with the FDP. ”The coalition negotiations should now find a solution. “We also have to deal with long-term care insurance, for example to cover our own contributions.” Care must be affordable, and better working conditions for caregivers are needed.
6:53 a.m. – Financing the traffic light plans through loans is conceivable, says Walter-Borjans
The SPD chairman Norbert Walter-Borjans has spoken out in favor of partially financing the plans of the possible traffic light coalition with loans. “The finances have to be deposited, of course,” he told the newspapers of the Funke media group with a view to the upcoming coalition negotiations. “When investing in the future, partial financing with loans is justified.” The debt brake contains “definitely leeway” for this.
In addition, there are the possibilities of state institutions such as the federal and state development banks, said the SPD boss. On Monday, the FDP was the last of the three traffic light parties to accept formal coalition negotiations with the SPD and the Greens. Finances are one of the sticking points in the upcoming negotiations.
5:00 a.m. – Greens Vice Lang – Much need for clarification with the SPD and FDP
Greens Vice Ricarda Lang sees her party facing difficult talks with the SPD and FDP for a possible traffic light coalition. “There is a good basis, but tough negotiations are still ahead of us,” she told the newspaper “Handelsblatt”. When it comes to financing, climate protection or social policy, a lot still needs to be clarified with the SPD and FDP. As part of the Greens exploratory team, Lang negotiated, among other things, the proposals for health and care policy, which were criticized by health insurance companies as insufficient to avert rising contributions for the insured.
“We wanted to tackle this problem with citizens’ insurance. This could not be done with the FDP. ”The coalition negotiations should now find a solution. “We also have to deal with long-term care insurance, for example to cover our own contributions.” Care must be affordable, and better working conditions for caregivers are needed.
04.00 a.m. – German Women’s Council calls for President of the Bundestag
The chairwoman of the German Women’s Council, Beate von Miquel, has asked the SPD to nominate a woman to succeed Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU). “It is unbelievable that precisely the party that calls for a” decade of equality “in its election manifesto apparently wants to send predominantly men to the highest state offices,” she told the editorial network in Germany.
The Working Group of Social Democratic Women had already made a similar statement on Monday. Previously, SPD leader Norbert Walter-Borjans had brought the previous parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich into play for the office of President of the Bundestag. However, with the possible Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the highest political posts would all be filled with men.
3 a.m. – Left supports FDP with new seating arrangements in the Bundestag
The Left supports a new seating arrangement in the Bundestag and wants to help the FDP to give up its seat next to the AfD to the Union. “Every democrat who no longer wants to sit next to the AfD has my full support,” said the parliamentary manager of the Left Group, Jan Korte, the Reuters news agency on Monday. “In the opposition we had a trusting cooperation with the FDP, especially when it came to civil rights or the rights of parliament,” he added as a reason why the left wanted to support the liberals. Reuters had already reported on October 9th that the FDP would like to swap places with the Union – which, however, vehemently rejects this.
Switching seats is politically sensitive in connection with the formation of a traffic light coalition. Because the FDP is on the one hand on the fact that the SPD and the Greens give the new partner the necessary majority against the CDU / CSU. On the other hand, the three traffic light parties want to create the impression that they are forming a coalition of the center – this would be visually underlined by the fact that they now occupy the center seats in the Bundestag.
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