On the way to a new coalition agreement, the CSU and Free Voters have eliminated all points of disagreement. In a summit meeting on Monday, both sides reportedly agreed on the preliminary text including the preamble. “After intensive but good negotiations, we are now largely in agreement on all substantive issues,” confirmed CSU parliamentary group leader Klaus Holetschek to the German Press Agency.
But the biggest controversial issues are yet to come: in the coming days, the layout of the ministries will be determined and a decision will have to be made about the division of departments between the parties – and then in a small group. The coalition agreement is now expected to be signed on Thursday. Details about the specific content were not initially publicly known on Monday.
The negotiations in numerous working groups and also in the large leadership group with the two party leaders Markus Söder (CSU) and Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters) have been taking place with the greatest possible discretion since they began more than a week ago. However, a preamble was announced that should contain a clear commitment to democracy and a clear demarcation against the AfD.
The division of the ministries is likely to be the most difficult point, as the Free Voters had repeatedly called for a fourth ministry after their significant increase in votes in the state elections on October 8th. The CSU had always rejected this.
The CSU and Free Voters’ schedule calls for Söder to be re-elected Prime Minister on October 31, one day after the inaugural session of the newly elected state parliament. The new cabinet could be sworn in as early as November 8th. The CSU and Free Voters had already governed together in the last legislative period. Together they have a stable majority of 122 of the 203 seats in the new state parliament.