Status: 02/13/2023 12:20 p.m
Already this evening, CDU top candidate Wegner wants to invite to exploratory talks after his election success in Berlin. Possible partners seem skeptical: the SPD is sticking to its own claim to leadership, while the Greens would probably have to make major concessions.
After the victory of the CDU in the repeat elections in Berlin, leading candidate Kai Wegner wants to invite the SPD and the Greens to exploratory talks this evening. The aim is to hold talks this week or early next, said Wegner. “Now is not the time for tacticians, now is the time for doers.”
The CDU politician warned the previous governing coalition against a new edition. “All three governing parties – the SPD, the Greens and the Left Party – have lost,” he said Bavarian radio. The SPD had the historically worst election result it had ever had in Berlin. The Berlin CDU has “a clear government mandate”.
Wegner is “completely open-ended” in the forthcoming talks to form a government. “I have no preference and no predetermination,” he said. He wanted to exchange ideas with the SPD and the Greens “at eye level”.
Giffey holds on to leadership
Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey also wants to hold talks with Wegner’s CDU, but also with her previous coalition partners, the Greens and the Left Party. The SPD politician is sticking to her party’s claim to leadership. The first goal is for the SPD to become the strongest force in a state government, she said RBB. The election result should be respected, but whoever gets the most votes faces the same task as everyone else. “It takes political majorities to lead a state government.”
According to the Governing Mayor, if the red-green-red government continues, the coalition agreement should be adjusted. “The world has moved on,” she said.
SPD leader Lars Klingbeil gave backing for a continuation of the coalition with the Greens and the Left Party: Giffey had tackled a lot so far, he said in the ARD morning magazine. “And she’s the right person to keep doing it.”
Black-green only with concessions
The Greens’ top candidate Bettina Jarasch believes that a black-green coalition in Berlin is only possible if the CDU makes strong concessions. “There is no alliance among the Greens without a mobility and heating transition, without really making Berlin climate-neutral and without real tenant protection,” said Jarasch dem RBB. The Greens politician stressed that she favored a continuation of the coalition of SPD, Greens and Left Party. The coalition agreement is a good basis for this.
Nevertheless, she wanted to have “serious” talks with the CDU, said Jarasch on the sidelines of a committee meeting. On Deutschlandfunk, however, she pointed out that the path between the Christian Democrats and the Greens was “undoubtedly a little further” than elsewhere. But this is up to both parties. In the capital there is “a very progressive Greens state association and a very, very conservative CDU at its core”.
FDP sees signal for change of power
From the point of view of the Berlin FDP parliamentary group leader Sebastian Czaja, however, the election result in the House of Representatives election is a clear signal for the voters’ desire for a new state government. “I think it was expressed here that they want political change in the city,” said Czaja.
It is now the task of the forces represented in Parliament to hold serious talks about forming a coalition. “But at the moment I don’t have the impression that this is what is wanted. It seems as if the SPD, the Greens and the Left have already made an appointment,” said Czaja.
Election management checks recount
In the meantime, the state election authority is considering a recount in view of the SPD’s conceivably narrow lead. “We will take a close look at the numbers again and discuss it with our lawyers,” said election officer Stephan Bröchler. “It is indeed a very small distance.” He assumes that the question of a recount will be decided this week.