The birds are chirping in the background, springtime in the north. A little windy maybe. Aminata Touré sounds in a good mood and slightly stressed on the phone, the election Sunday in Schleswig-Holstein, which she enjoyed, has led her Greens into a bizarre situation. The questions that are also attracting national interest are these: Can Jamaica really continue up there? Or will it be black and green instead, i.e. without the FDP, or black and yellow, without the Greens?
Aminata Touré, vice-president of the state parliament and one of the two top women in the Greens, answers: “We are absolutely in favor of holding talks,” she says. But her party prefers black and green, “because there are two very clear election winners, the CDU and the Greens.”
In fact, Prime Minister Daniel Günther’s Union won, gaining more than 11 percentage points to 43.4 percent. It almost reached an absolute majority. The Greens came second with 18.3 percent, up 5.4 percentage points, ahead of the SPD (16 percent) and very clearly ahead of the FDP (6.4 percent, down 5.1 percentage points). Mathematically, Günther’s CDU could henceforth govern alone with the Greens or the FDP. Despite this, he would apparently like to continue with Jamaica.
“Wish coalition of the population”
During the election campaign, the head of government had already campaigned for the continuation of the black, green and yellow trio, although it was becoming apparent that one partner would become superfluous. Günther, Economics Minister Bernd Buchholz from the FDP and Finance Minister Monika Heinold from the Greens danced together at the CDU election party. Günther also repeated his wish at the small party conference on Wednesday in a brewery in Kiel.
He called Jamaica the “desired coalition of the people”. If it is possible to implement the goals in this alliance in the coming years, then one should not be guided by who gets how many posts and who is needed and who is not. It has been shown “that we can work together at eye level”.
There was applause. CDU parliamentary group leader Tobias Koch even offered that a ministerial post could be waived for the threesome, although it was not clear who the waiver would affect. He hopes for openness in the Greens and FDP for Jamaica. For next Tuesday, Daniel Günther has invited to soundings, first the Greens, then the FDP.
The FDP wants participation at eye level
“The offer is of course unusual,” says Christopher Vogt, the FDP parliamentary group leader. Günther knows that he was also chosen because “Jamaica is so popular and he managed it well”. The situation is just different from the last election. At that time there had to be three parties, from now on two will suffice. Vogt’s predecessor, Wolfgang Kubicki, referred to the idea as Jamaica II mirror as “charming”. Vogt says they will listen to it. “We’re excited to see what suggestions there are.” He wishes progress in planning, digitization, education; when it comes to internal security, the CDU goes too far for him. He also speaks of “equal footing”. “If that’s possible, we’d be happy to participate.” Otherwise it doesn’t make much sense. Vogt can also well imagine black and yellow.
The Greens are also excited and point out that they got along better with the CDU than with the FDP and now have three times as many votes as the Liberals. The Greens want to promote the traffic turnaround and climate protection rather than road construction. They also have the feeling that the prime minister is deferring the decision on a new pact. And Aminata Touré, 29, also points out that with all the Jamaica considerations, one must also take into account “that an excessive government majority against a smaller opposition would be difficult in terms of democratic theory”.