According to media reports, Berlin’s Christian Democrats have decided to enter into negotiations with the SPD on a government alliance. SPD top candidate Franziska Giffey is also said to have spoken out in favor of it.
According to unanimous media reports, the Berlin Christian Democrats have made a decision: They want to form a government alliance with the Social Democrats and start coalition negotiations as early as next week. According to a report by daily mirror the CDU’s exploratory team wants to submit a corresponding recommendation to the state executive board. An official decision is expected on Thursday.
According to media reports, Berlin’s governing mayor and SPD state chairwoman Franziska Giffey is aiming for a coalition with the election winner, the CDU. Giffey wants to propose to the SPD state board at its meeting this Wednesday that coalition negotiations with the CDU be started. The German Press Agency learned from SPD circles that the trend is towards black and red, but that is not yet fixed. According to reports, the SPD parliamentary group, which was informed on Tuesday about the status of the exploratory talks, is also tending in this direction.
Soundings by SPD and CDU apparently successful
In the event of a coalition with the CDU, SPD state chairwoman Giffey would have to give up her position as governing mayor. The new head of government would be CDU faction leader and state leader Wegner in a black-red coalition. It is conceivable that Giffey could then become a senator. The Greens and Left, with whom the SPD has governed since 2016, would then find themselves on the opposition bench.
The top executives of the SPD and CDU last met on Friday last week. For the representatives of both parties, it was already the third round of soundings. Wegner then spoke of the fact that “all questions could be clarified”.
Jarasch warns of a “regression coalition” between the CDU and SPD
The green top candidate in the repeat election, Bettina Jarasch, has criticized a possible two-party alliance between the SPD and CDU as a step backwards coalition. “The fact that the SPD and the CDU are now obviously deciding in favor of each other shows that what we always warned about during the election campaign is coming: a regression coalition,” said Jarasch on Wednesday. “We Greens stand by our responsibility for Berlin and have made this clear in the serious exploratory talks.” Her party is available for coalition talks that focus on climate protection and mobility, progressive social policy and consistent protection of tenants.
A decision on this was expected from the SPD state board on Wednesday evening.
The February 12 election results opened up several options. The CDU left the square as the clear winner with more than 28 percent of the votes. SPD and Greens are almost equal. Both achieved 18.4 percent. The official result confirmed on Monday how close it actually was: the SPD is only 53 votes ahead of the Greens. The Left received 12.2 percent of the vote. They continue to support the continuation of the existing red-green-red coalition.