analysis
As of: 04/21/2023 7:50 p.m
Berlin is heading towards a coalition between the CDU and SPD. The Governing Mayor Giffey even wants to sacrifice her office for it. But it is still unclear whether the SPD basis agrees.
In the Prime Time Theater in the Wedding district of Berlin, the positions collide. The Berlin SPD is holding the last major discussion round here before its members vote on the coalition agreement negotiated with the CDU.
Like most Jusos, Sarah Hegazy has already made her decision: “I will vote against it because I can’t imagine the SPD going into a coalition with a racist CDU.”
Astrid Hollmann sees things very differently. “Emotion down, sense on and ‘yes’ said,” is the short formula of the 53-year-old, who unsuccessfully ran for the House of Representatives in the last election. “The coalition agreement is simply so full of social-democratic politics that with a reasonable eye you can’t vote against it,” says Hollmann.
uproar in the party
Hollmann and Hegazy represent a divided party. Since the February election, the SPD has been on an emotional roller coaster ride. The shock of the election evening was followed by a nail-biter until the official final result, which would have made a red-green-red coalition led by the SPD numerically possible.
But in the exploratory talks, the still-governing Berlin mayor Franziska Giffey and her co-chairman Raed Saleh surprisingly swung in the direction of the CDU – even though that reduced the SPD to the role of junior partner. Since then there has been turmoil in the party.
The supporters of a black-red coalition wrote an appeal entitled “Better with us. Out of responsibility for Berlin”. It is striking that elected officials, state secretaries and employees from the management floors of senate administrations have signed. There are also former senators and former Bundestag President Wolfgang Thierse.
They argue that social policy for the whole city can be better implemented with the CDU than with the Greens and the Left. The heavy losses of the SPD in the parliamentary elections showed that the voters of red-green-red were fed up. For all members who are still unsure, Giffey has the warning ready: “I don’t want us in the opposition to watch black and green rule.”
Jusos at the forefront of the NoGroKo movement
She promptly received opposition from the Juso state chairman, Sinem Tasan-Funke. In addition to the opposition, there is at least one other option. “You can continue to talk to the previous coalition partners,” Tasan-Funke advertises for the continuation of red-green-red.
The Berlin Jusos have taken the lead in the NoGroko movement. But many comrades from the AG 60plus are also strictly against the alliance with the CDU. They all fear that in a coalition with the CDU, a social rent policy as well as real climate protection will fall by the wayside.
Left-wing Social Democrats don’t want to just let it go that the CDU wanted to know the first names of the suspects after the New Year’s riot. That’s pure racism, according to the NoGroKo camp.
Older members remember with horror the time when the Social Democrats were kept small by the then CDU mayor Eberhard Diepgen. That also motivates you to say no.
Approval and rejection are balanced
The mood in the local associations, district associations or working groups shows how much the entire party is struggling with itself. Approval and rejection of black and red are roughly balanced here.
The calculus of the Governing Mayor Giffey and the state and parliamentary group leader Saleh aims to ensure that a majority of party members ultimately vote in a state-supporting manner. Giffey could then continue as a senator and would still be deputy of a governing mayor Kai Wegner from the CDU. If, on the other hand, the coalition agreement falls through, Giffey would be hit first.
Your political career would be over for the time being. She would also lose her position as SPD state chairman sooner rather than later. For a powerful position, Giffey lacks his own home power in the party.
Connoisseurs expect a tight result
In this case, the key role would be played by parliamentary group leader Saleh. He is also blamed for the failures in the past elections. But unlike the current mayor, Saleh is networked in the party like no one else. The faction in the House of Representatives is also behind him. And unlike Giffey, in the past few days he has cleverly understood how to rhetorically advance just in case. No matter how the base decides, the vote will be accepted, Saleh announced.
How well this hugging strategy works is uncertain. Juso chairwoman Tasan-Funke recently rejoiced publicly that she was observing a tipping of the mood towards NoGroKo.
Intimate connoisseurs of the SPD and its inner life and old party strategists do not want to commit themselves there. However, they assume that there will be a close result in the membership decision.
Voting envelopes can still be thrown in at the Kurt-Schumacher-Haus, the seat of the SPD state association in the Wedding district, until 11:59 p.m. on Friday. From Sunday morning, a counting commission of around 60 people will then count the votes. The national association wants to announce the result in the afternoon.