Coalition talks
The timetable up to the election of the Chancellor
To be elected as the new Federal Chancellor in St. Nicholas Week: Olaf Scholz (SPD)
© Jens Schlueter / Getty Images
The SPD, Greens and FDP do not want to take much time in forming a government. The Chancellor is to be elected in St. Nicholas Week. The key dates up to the new government.
Now it’s getting serious. The SPD, Greens and FDP have started coalition negotiations for a traffic light alliance. The new government should already be in place in St. The three-party roadmap for the coalition negotiations:
Tuesday, October 26th:
The newly elected Bundestag meets for the first time. This also officially ends the term of office of the previous ministers and the Federal Chancellor. However, according to the Basic Law, at the request of the Federal President you are obliged to continue in your office until a new cabinet has been appointed.
Wednesday October 27th
For the first time, the full 22 specialist working groups will come together at the coalition negotiations. Each has four or six members per party – a total of 300 politicians are involved in the talks. They are thematically divided into seven blocks: Modern state and digitization; Climate protection; World of work; Family and children; Freedom and security; Appearance and defense; Public finances.
Wednesday November 10th
The working groups should only have days during the week, and there should also be no night-time meetings. The work should be completed by November 10th. The working groups then submit position papers on their subject areas. The final editing and clarification of the questions that have not yet been resolved will then be taken over by the main negotiating group. It includes the top representatives of the three parties.
end of November
The formulated coalition agreement should be ready. It then has to be confirmed internally: with the FDP at a special party conference, with the Greens in the form of a digital membership survey. The SPD executive committee still wants to decide on the exact procedure. SPD boss Norbert Walter-Borjans had spoken out against a classic member survey at the weekend, but can imagine an online format for “appropriate participation”.
New Chancellor Scholz from Nikolaus
If the coalition agreement gets the green light from all three traffic light parties, the new Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz is to be elected in the week of St. Nicholas Day on December 6th. On the day of the election of the Chancellor by the Bundestag, the ministers are usually also appointed.