The SPD chairwoman Saskia Esken has confirmed that she wants to stick to the schedule for the coalition negotiations. “It will definitely stick to our schedule. It is a very clear plan that we can elect Olaf Scholz as our Federal Chancellor during St. Nicholas Week and the preparatory work must be done by then,” said Esken in the ARD.
In the coalition negotiations between the SPD, the Greens and the FDP, 22 working groups are to work out their positions by Wednesday. Several Green politicians were dissatisfied with the progress made in the talks. Green parliamentary group leader Katrin Göring-Eckardt did not rule out that the coalition negotiations could take longer than planned. One tries very hard, she assured the ARD: “But the result counts and not the date.” (08.11.2021)
Klingbeil criticizes Union for “party politics” in the pandemic
SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbeil has criticized the Union for its behavior in the current Corona situation. “People act as if they have nothing more to do with politics, they say goodbye to the role of the opposition,” he said on ZDF. Klingbeil could in future take over the chairmanship of the SPD together with Saskia Esken. He was happy, he said, “that we have managed to keep party politics out of this difficult pandemic response, and it is a pity that the Union is not making it at the moment”.
Previously, Union politicians had criticized the approach of the partners of a possible traffic light coalition in the pandemic. The acting Chancellery Minister Helge Braun (CDU) accused the SPD chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz of blocking a federal-state meeting to coordinate the corona policy in order not to disrupt the ongoing coalition negotiations between the SPD and the Greens and the FDP. The Bavarian Prime Minister and CSU boss Markus Söder accused the possible traffic light coalition of ducking away from the tense Corona situation. (08.11.2021)
Schwesig: coalition agreement for red-red in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is in place
The coalition agreement for red-red in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is in place. Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) tweeted this. Shortly beforehand, the negotiators from the SPD and the Left had a final meeting. The coalition negotiations were officially concluded after eight rounds on Friday.
In the early afternoon, the negotiators Schwesig and Simone Oldenburg (left) want to present the contract publicly. On Saturday, special party conferences of the SPD and the Left take place to vote on the contract. It should be signed on the same day. The re-election of Schwesig as Prime Minister in the Schwerin state parliament and the appointment of her cabinet are planned for next Monday. (11/08/2021)
Esken and Klingbeil want to become the new SPD leadership duo
The previous Secretary General Lars Klingbeil and party leader Saskia Esken want to lead the SPD together in the future. Both declared this on Monday in an SPD presidium meeting. The presidium followed this unanimously and proposed the personnel to the party executive committee. This shows that the SPD will clarify its open leadership question without major restructuring in the party leadership in parallel with the formation of a government. The SPD leadership is to be elected at a party congress from December 10th to 12th.
In the morning in the ARD “Morgenmagazin”, Esken already pointed out the close cooperation with Klingbeil for many years. The 43-year-old is an “architect of the renewal of the SPD” and she values him very much. As an election campaign manager, Klingbeil played a decisive role in the SPD’s victory in the federal elections.
The incumbent co-chairman Norbert Walter-Borjans, 69, announced his retirement at the end of October and declared that younger people should now take the helm. He and Esken took office at the top of the SPD in December 2019 after a lengthy selection process. At that time, a party congress confirmed a membership decision, with which the successor to the resigned party and parliamentary group leader Andrea Nahles was clarified. At that time, Olaf Scholz, who ran together with the Brandenburg politician Klara Geywitz, was inferior to Esken and Walter-Borjans.
Even now it cannot be ruled out that further applicants for the party chairmanship will register before the party congress – but it is unlikely in the clearly pacified party. Several SPD deputies such as Labor Minister Hubertus Heil have already announced that they want to continue to be deputies.
The change at the top of the SPD should also affect the coalition negotiations with the Greens and the FDP. Walter-Borjans had made it clear that the party leaders should not be represented in the government in the future either – even if this were possible under the statutes. (08.11.2021)
Baerbock believes longer coalition negotiations are possible
The Greens chairwoman Annalena Baerbock has admitted differences in the coalition negotiations with the SPD and FDP on climate policy and has not ruled out an extension. “We need a new federal government that achieves change in this country, which not only writes progress on paper, but also solves it in the essential core areas,” she said on the RBB-Inforadio.
With a view to the desired coalition agreement, she added: “We cannot yet say when it will be finished, because we do not yet see that we can say that we can say that we can say when we are working on central construction sites. This renewal of the country should take place in the next four weeks Years. And four days more or less do not matter in the talks. “
Baerbock did not want to give any details from the negotiations. Confidentiality has been agreed. The climate protection task would have to be cross-sectional through a new federal government. “Then not only one party can be responsible for it,” she said, obviously referring to her own. This applies above all to the construction sector and the transport sector, where greenhouse gas emissions have so far not fallen sufficiently.
In addition to climate protection, Baerbock also mentioned the modernization of administration and the condition of schools as central tasks. “That is why it is important to us that we say in these coalition talks what are the decisive levers that we will tackle with a new government next year. In our view, we are not yet ready to say: in a few weeks we can put a lid on it. “
While Baerbock does not rule out an extension of the negotiations, the Rhineland-Palatinate Prime Minister Malu Dreyer (SPD) does not see the schedule in jeopardy. “We negotiate in a good atmosphere. And that it jerks from time to time is the most normal thing in the world,” said the SPD politician on Friday on ZDF. “I am very confident that these talks will continue in a positive way.” She is optimistic that SPD candidate Olaf Scholz will be elected Chancellor as planned in St. Nicholas Week. “That is our goal and I am confident that we can achieve it too.”
In order for Scholz to be elected as the new Federal Chancellor in the week from December 6th, the parties would have to conclude negotiations in the second half of November so that the party committees or special party congresses can approve a coalition agreement in good time. (05/11/2021)
Union accuses traffic light groups of “arrogance of power”
A few days before the first working session of the new Bundestag, there is the first massive dispute between the Union faction and the future traffic light factions of the SPD, Greens and FDP. “Although the traffic light coalition is only just about to form, it already smells of arrogance in power politics,” said the parliamentary manager of the Union faction, Michael Grosse-Brömer (CDU). The dispute revolves around how many MPs each parliamentary group sends to the so-called main committee.
“The main committee will be the central body of parliamentary work in the coming weeks,” said Grosse-Brömer. With the Infection Protection Act, for example, the committee will advise on the future basis for fighting pandemics and replace all specialist committees. “The main committee must therefore be of an appropriate size.”
The traffic light groups want the committee to have 31 members. Accordingly, the SPD should send nine MPs, the Union eight, the Greens five, FDP four, AfD three and the Left two. That is not enough for the CDU / CSU. The Union parliamentary group demands at least 39 members: SPD and Union eleven, Greens six, FDP five, AfD four, Left two. The main committee had 47 members in each of the previous two terms.
In the Union parliamentary group, it is argued that, given the range of topics to be expected in the committee, specialist politicians should be able to cooperate – this is hardly possible if the staffing list is too narrow. In addition to Grosse-Brömer, Stefan Müller, parliamentary director of the CSU regional group, will sit on the committee for the Union. The remaining members have not yet been named.
Grosse-Brömer said: “The traffic light groups are sacrificing serious parliamentary work on the altar of their coalition negotiations.” Because their people are bound in the negotiations, “they want a main committee the size of a narrow-gauge”. The schedule of the SPD Chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz for the coalition negotiations “seems to be above everything,” criticized the CDU politician. “It really wouldn’t have been difficult to increase the number of MPs by eight.”
The Bundestag wants to use the main committee in the second session of the new Bundestag next Thursday. On a transitional basis, until the standing committees are constituted, the committee will discuss important issues such as the planned changes to the Infection Protection Act in the fight against corona. It is considered a kind of super committee. (05/11/2021)