Green-red coalition in Munich: Town hall shared apartment is looking for new roommates – Munich

An attractive room in a prime location is available in Munich’s town hall, with a view of Marienplatz. The coalition could fill this quite easily: the Greens propose a candidate for the office of second mayor, as stipulated in the contract, and the Social Democrats let him move in as quickly as possible, as also agreed. Best garnished with a few warm words. But the Social Democrats and the Greens stick with this personality, as they have so often done in the three and a half years of the alliance. Nothing comes easy, nothing happens without misunderstandings, and you often wait a long time for warm words, if not in vain.

The irritation was caused by the previous second mayor, Katrin Haben Schaden. Last week she announced completely unexpectedly that she was moving out of the town hall shared apartment. The Green Party’s great hope could no longer and did not want to withstand the public pressure of political life, as she declared herself, and will work for Deutsche Bahn in the future. This abrupt farewell and the almost simultaneous appointment of SPD parliamentary group leader Christian Müller as one of the managing directors of the Munich housing associations lead to a change in the coalition that no one could have expected shortly after the halfway point of the term of office. The office of second mayor and, as a result, a senior position in the government factions must be filled.

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The Greens would like to start their castling right away in the general assembly at the end of October. Haben Schaden will then resign her position, and Dominik Krause should follow her seamlessly. The Green and Pink List faction proposed it with 24 votes and only one opposing vote. It’s not possible, they said in the town hall on Wednesday, because there are legal problems. The election of the new second mayor could not take place until the end of November. The Greens were very angry: That would have meant five weeks of vacancy in their mayoral position, five weeks of no reorganization of the parliamentary group, five weeks of no planning security for the employees in the town hall and thus five weeks of a weakening in political operations. And this at a time when the extremely difficult 2024 budget is being negotiated.

The Greens had noted that SPD parliamentary group leader Christian Müller had promised that Krause would be elected by his parliamentary group, but otherwise there had been a great deal of silence from his coalition partner. Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) declared immediately after Haben Schaden’s withdrawal that he would not comment on a Green Party mayoral candidate until he had been elected. Not a word to Krause, especially not a warm one. SPD co-parliamentary group leader Anne Hübner, who can dish it out but also has a feel for moods, also did not comment publicly on Krause.

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Last Tuesday, the Greens and the SPD elected Christian Müller as managing director of Gewofag with a majority of one vote. They stuck to the agreement, although it may not have been easy for them because, according to information from the SZ, all staff representatives voted against it. The SPD parliamentary group met on the same day, which was a good time for the Greens to see their coalition partner commit to Krause’s election in return. But that didn’t happen and the nervousness grew.

The SPD was again surprised by this. “I can’t understand the excitement,” said Hübner. Apart from that, both groups did not want to comment publicly. On Wednesday, at least internally, the wires between the factions were glowing, and in the afternoon a legally possible compromise emerged. Krause could be elected in October and then not sworn in until November.

Both factions will go into retreat at the end of the week, so the SPD would have the opportunity to debate Krause’s mayoral ambitions and to express the expected approval a little less dryly than before. For the Greens, the second hottest personnel question is who will become co-chair of the parliamentary group alongside Mona Fuchs. The two deputy bosses Clara Nitsche and Sebastian Weisenburger would be natural candidates. The current trend should be more in the direction of Weisenburger, because then a woman and a man would continue to have equal rights at the top.

However, the personnel games go much further for the Greens. In addition to property damage, Julia Post and Hannah Gerstenkorn are also leaving the city council. Post was elected to the state parliament, and Gerstenkorn took over her own practice as a doctor. Ursula Harper, Gunda Krauss and Andreas Voßeler are replacing them. The parliamentary group has to fill many committees and also fill up the parliamentary group board.

Will there be a solo leadership at the SPD?

Only one new position is being allocated at the SPD, but it is a tough one. Who will succeed Christian Müller as head of the parliamentary group, alongside co-chair Anne Hübner? Is anyone even following or taking this one solo lead? It is said that parliamentary group vice-president and SPD city leader Christian Köning is confident of taking on the position. He would then have enormous power as party and parliamentary group leader in Munich.

There were also politicians in the town hall who believed that further escalation in the coalition was possible. In theory, there would be no better time to look for other political partners. But there were no signs of great sympathy from the SPD, which was once again badly shaken in the state elections, to throw itself into a shaky grand coalition with the CSU and a possibly additional necessary partner. Even though Mayor Reiter has often publicly appeared to be tired of coalitions recently. The coalition could also use the turning point at the next city council meeting in the other way: departure instead of demolition.