To to the Selfie at the beginning, the talks for a traffic light coalition have reached the stage of the group photo. “Real success can only be achieved together!” Tweeted the Green Cem Özdemir last Friday. The proof? A photo of people showing confidence – the negotiating team of the working group on economics. “Rather @EUTheurer & @schneidercar“We wrestled hard, but always fairly,” said the Green negotiator, thanking his counterparts from the FDP and the Greens, Michael Theurer and Carsten Schneider.
If you don’t reveal what has been decided, at least let it be human. Such a photo is a nice proof of work.
The correct, strictly confidential proof of work – discussion contents of a total of 22 working groups summarized on a maximum of five pages – were sent to the chief negotiators of the parties this weekend, who had them put together to form an overall package.
The next phase of negotiations will begin this Monday; It starts at 10 a.m. in the venerable state representation of the Hanseatic city of Hamburg, in the middle of Berlin-Mitte and within walking distance between the Federal Ministry of Finance – where Olaf Scholz, as a minister, still has an executive office – and the Federal Chancellery, from which he plans to rule from mid-December. The fact that the hot phase of the talks is taking place on the floor of Hamburg in the federal capital is a home advantage for the SPD candidate for chancellor and former first mayor of the Hanseatic city. Maybe it’s supposed to be a good omen too.
Because so far the only thing that is certain is that there will be a huge crash. Not only is there a lot of work waiting for Scholz and his potential government partners from the Greens and FDP, but everything that is decisive. The selfie of the party leaders of the FDP and the Greens and the group photos cannot hide the fact that there are tough arguments that go down to the basics. In the results paper of the AG Finances, for example, that of the Süddeutsche Zeitung there are various colored markings. There the sentence “The Federal Government will actively work against the uptake of nuclear power and gas as sustainable technologies” is highlighted in green. That means that the Greens introduced this sentence – but it was not capable of consensus, at least one traffic light partner sees it differently. There are also sentences with a yellow background and blue background, overall the paper is quite colorful. Party leaders and top candidates now have to grapple with this – and the big chunks of public finances, climate protection and migration are yet to be dealt with.
The network also reflects the fact that it was by no means harmonious. The Green Konstantin von Notz, chief negotiator of the working group for internal security, civil rights and sport, was meanwhile so angry that he started the traffic light talks with the maiden voyage of the Titantic compared: “On April 15, 1912 there were three people on board the Titanic on their maiden voyage. One of them says: ‘We should avoid the iceberg.’ The others answer: ‘What are you giving us for?’ Notz tweeted on the afternoon of November 4th, sounding frustrated. His party friend Renate Künast replied: “Dear Konsti, I am right now too.” There was a dispute about refugees, deportations, extremism. Under the mandatory final photo of the AG is this crucial word, without which the SPD, Greens and FDP will hardly come to a traffic light: The AG negotiated “disciplined”.
Compared with the coalition negotiations of the past Merkel years, two differences stand out. Never before has so much been communicated via social media, which on the one hand is due to the younger age groups, but on the other hand also shows their influence. And: unlike usual, it has been possible to set up a kind of quiet room – in order to be able to speak openly without having to fear being pierced. In the event of violations, the network comes back into play: “All previous reports about agreements in the international work area are simply wrong,” tweeted the Green Omid Nouripour, negotiator of the International Affairs Group last Friday. “The fact that individuals believe that they can politically suckle honey with half-truths is shabby and does not do justice to the good work of the last few weeks.”
On the internet it can also be determined that the suspicion of Scholz is quite high, especially among the Greens. Konstantin von Notz demonstratively shared a comment on the role of Olaf Scholz from the taz, which said: “Pointing to the Greens when it comes to climate protection is essentially an infantile position that allows forces unwilling to change to ‘keep it up’.”
Olaf Scholz, who wants to be Chancellor soon, does not get involved in debates. One can wait a long time for a word about the negotiations. Instead, Scholz has a photo posted on Twitter with Anke Rehlinger, who wants to become Prime Minister in Saarland next year. And ensures that a photo of him with the former President of Brazil, Lula, is spread, under which he is happy to have spoken to the German election winner about “the process of forming a government”. Details? Nothing.
The photo of the two politicians who salute each other is interesting, however: Scholz seems to be pushing his fist away from Lula with an outstretched arm, back against Lula’s body. This is how the Greens are likely to feel occasionally in the traffic light conversations: pushed away and narrowed.
The magic is over – now everyone is talking about “strangers”
Greens co-leader Robert Habeck raved about a “progressive government” at the beginning of the talks. At the end of last week, the Green, who wants to be Vice Chancellor at the traffic lights, sounds nervous. The goal of wanting to limit the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees in order to be able to reduce the rise in greenhouse gas emissions must be backed up with concrete measures in the coalition agreement. “If we don’t get there, the coalition negotiations will have failed,” he told the RBB.
Green co-boss Annalena Baerbock also confirmed on ZDF on Saturday that the Greens in the new government want to bring about a much earlier coal exit for Germany. “It is up to us to ensure global justice and to secure a future worth living,” she said with a view to the conclusion of the international climate negotiations in Glasgow. Germany should form a global alliance for climate-neutral business with Europe and other industrialized countries, says the Greens. It doesn’t seem far from Scholz, who promotes an international climate club in which states coordinate their climate policy.
But it is not the case that only the Greens are alienating the SPD. The strangeness can be observed in turn, depending on which working group you are talking to. The Social Democrats are amazed at “daydreams” among others, the FDP has already seen people “from another planet”. In the AG Family, the SPD and Greens are closer together, as is the case with finances. With the refugees, the SPD and FDP are closer. There are also changing alliances.
So far it has appeared that the negotiators shared a sufficient level of pragmatism. According to Picture on sunday the Greens could, however, confront their partners on Monday at the beginning of the hot phase with a demand that Scholz will hardly appreciate. After that, the traffic light should first clarify the distribution of the ministries. “Only when it is clear who has to implement what in the government does the willingness to compromise increase,” the newspaper quoted a negotiator as saying. The Greens claim the Ministry for Climate Protection and Transformation. Habeck had also named the Ministry of the Interior. It is customary to assign departments at the end.