Neukoelln
Berlin: Giffey’s district association against the black-red coalition
Also in the SPD controversial coalition: Franziska Giffey (SPD), Governing Mayor of Berlin, and Kai Wegner, top candidate of the CDU. photo
© Fabian Sommer/dpa
In Berlin, the criticism of the SPD’s decision to negotiate a coalition with the CDU continues. Now the district association of SPD state leader Giffey votes against a black-red coalition.
Berlin’s SPD state leader and governing mayor Franziska Giffey is campaigning for a coalition with the CDU, but her own district association in Neukölln is against it. The Neukölln SPD had decided on an application by the Jusos and rejected a black-red coalition, said the deputy leader of the parliamentary group in the district parliament, Marco Preuss, on Twitter on Saturday.
According to the Neukölln SPD member of the Bundestag Hakan Demir, after an intensive discussion, there was a narrow majority of 48 to 45 votes against cooperation with the CDU at the district delegates’ meeting. Several Berlin media had previously reported on the subject.
The Berlin SPD wants its members to vote on the coalition agreement. With a two-thirds majority, the state executive spoke out in favor of coalition negotiations with the CDU on Wednesday. Giffey said the day after the decision of the German Press Agency, she also assesses the mood in the entire party. Giffey admitted that there was criticism of the course in the SPD. She also received a lot of positive feedback from the party. The coalition negotiations between SPD and CDU are to begin in the next few days.
The Berlin Jusos have announced a campaign against black and red. “The vote on the Jusos Neukölln application was close, but showed how many in our party reject cooperation with the Berlin CDU,” they tweeted after the Neukölln decision.
The CDU won the repeat election to the House of Representatives in Berlin in mid-February with 28.2 percent. SPD and Greens both got 18.4 percent – with a wafer-thin lead for the Social Democrats. So far, a coalition of SPD, Greens and Left has governed in Berlin.