Status: 11.11.2021 12:23 a.m.
The coalition negotiations between the SPD, the Greens and the FDP are jerky. The first results from the working groups are available – and the Greens are dissatisfied. Now the party leaders have to find final compromises.
It is shortly before 6 p.m. and the parliamentary group meeting of the FDP is about to begin. It is also the deadline by which the 22 working groups of the traffic light negotiations should have submitted their interim results. Five pages maximum. Calibri font. Font size 11. This is what the guide says. FDP defense politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann whizzes past the cameras and microphones on her scooter. After all, it is Wolfgang Kubicki who can be elicited a few words as you walk past: “Don’t worry,” he says: “The coalition will almost certainly be able to be formed.”
A citrus magic at the beginning
22 working groups, a good 300 people from three parties involved – but even after 6 p.m. there is still a lot of silence, as has been the rule for the past three weeks. A little penetrates the outside. If you summarize these impressions, it becomes clear that euphoria and satisfaction with the current status of the traffic light negotiations are very unevenly distributed. While the SPD and FDP exude confidence, many Greens are clearly dissatisfied.
The Greens had started out so confidently. There was a citrus magic in the beginning. Immediately after the election, the FDP and the Greens had chosen an apparently clever strategy. They formed a power couple who then wanted to join forces to oppose the SPD – with the younger electorate behind them. FDP leader Christian Lindner spoke of the “progress-friendly center”. The selfie on Instagram has become a symbol.
After the first public meeting, Greens boss Robert Habeck used a linguistic image at the interface between philosophy and hardware store: “If you insert the screw at an angle, it will never straighten again. In any case, this screw was inserted very straight in the first few days. ”
Displeasure among the Greens
This glossy layer of the early yellow-green days got scratches in the coalition negotiations. The traffic light exploratory paper had already caused displeasure among many greens. In several working groups, the Greens then had the impression of a “two against one” situation. On the other hand, in some groups the representatives of the SPD and FDP apparently experienced the green side as not being optimally prepared.
These are all bad omen for a project that is facing very big tasks: climate protection, digitization, the division of society, Germany’s role in the world.
Coalition negotiations of the traffic light parties: working groups deliver results
Christian Feld, ARD Berlin, Tagesschau 8:00 p.m., 11/10/2021
Next stop: main negotiating group
The federal traffic light is not yet finished. The project is entering a new phase. Little by little, the working groups had delivered their interim results. When it was announced three weeks ago, the plan sounded ambitious. Conflicts should be resolved by the working groups themselves and not put on the table as passages in brackets to the main negotiating group.
As many expected, that didn’t work. Although most of the members of the working groups still do not want to talk about the details of the content, the impression arises that the bosses still have a lot of work to do.
Three areas of conflict: transport, environment, foreign policy
First of all, it is now up to the General Secretaries to turn 22 individual papers into a running text. That is the basis for the main negotiating group. It has to bend over all subject areas: transport, environment, foreign policy are just three examples of areas with potential for conflict. Solving the problems and negotiating the final coalition agreement is now a matter for bosses.
And again a clock is ticking. The SPD in particular is pushing for Olaf Scholz to be elected Chancellor during St. Nicholas Week. If that succeeds, he could take a seat in Angela Merkel’s previous chair at the EU summit on December 16 and 17.
Before that, the three parties have to agree to the coalition agreement in different ways. The Greens survey their base digitally. It takes time.
Who now has legitimate reasons for joy or frustration at the current stage? So far, there are only a few brief impressions from inside the traffic light negotiations that provide information. Specific texts and formulations will be decisive. So far, none of them has made it to the public eye.