Possible “traffic light” coalition
Today it continues: FDP confirms “red lines” in exploratory talks
From left: FDP party leader Christian Lindner, Greens co-chair Annalena Baerbock and SPD chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz
© Kay Nietfeld / DPA
The exploratory talks for a possible traffic light coalition of the SPD, FDP and the Greens start today, Monday. The Liberals have again emphasized their framework for forming a government.
Before exploratory talks between the SPD, the Greens and the FDP began to form a possible “traffic light coalition”, the parliamentary manager of the FDP parliamentary group, Marco Buschmann, reaffirmed the liberal framework.
“The red lines of the FDP are well known: no tax increases and no loosening of the debt brake of our Basic Law,” said Buschmann the “Spiegel”. There are also “other areas of friction”, but all three parties are “ambitious”.
“The discussions have to show whether there is frictional energy for a forward impulse,” he said, according to the magazine. So far everything has been “very serious and professional”. It is clear to everyone involved: “It’s about our country,” said the FDP politician.
Habeck: “The traffic light is far from being dry”
Four days after their first meeting in a three-way format, the SPD, Greens and FDP want to start “in-depth explorations” today for the formation of a traffic light coalition. You have agreed to confidentiality for the interview. At the weekend, politicians from the Greens and the FDP referred to serious political differences – for example in financial policy. The “traffic light” is “far from being dry,” said Greens boss Robert Habeck.
Meanwhile, the Vice President of the SPD Economic Forum, Matthias Machnig, called on his party to stand united behind top candidate Olaf Scholz during the explorations. “There is no success without unity,” he told Wirtschaftswoche. “Scholz is now the authority in the party,” stressed Machnig. “Everyone would be very well advised not to scratch this authority.” There shouldn’t be a “profiling competition” during the talks: “The trick is for everyone to feel like a winner later on”.
In the CDU, on the other hand, there is displeasure with the liberals, who preferred the SPD to the Union. “The FDP must not become the stirrup holder of the SPD and the Greens,” said Hamburg’s CDU boss Christoph Ploß to the magazine. “Tax increases or the path to a European transfer union would be poison for Germany as a business location and the recovery after the corona crisis”.
Sources: The mirror Wirtschaftswoche