Coalition negotiations
“We are facing tough negotiations”: Now it’s time for the traffic light parties to get down to business
From left: Robert Habeck and Annalena Baerbock, the federal chairmen of Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen, Olaf Scholz, SPD candidate for chancellor and federal finance minister, and Christian Lindner, parliamentary group leader and party leader of the FDP
© Kay Nietfeld / DPA
So far everything has been a preliminary skirmish. Now it’s time to get down to business. The SPD, Greens and FDP have never held coalition talks about the formation of a federal government. The challenge they face is all the greater.
After the approval of their party committees, the SPD, Greens and FDP are preparing to begin coalition negotiations. The talks could start this week. First of all, the General Secretaries want to join forces again to structure the talks. Which working groups are formed can be a sign for possible future ministries. The declared aim is to form a government before Christmas.
SPD leader Norbert Walter-Borjans admitted that the projects and plans of the possible traffic light coalition have not yet been financed. “The finances have to be deposited, very clearly,” he told the newspapers of the Funke media group (Tuesday). In the case of investments in the future, partial financing with loans is justified, “the debt brake definitely contains leeway for this”. In addition, there would be the possibilities of state institutions such as development banks.
Dispute over the Ministry of Finance?
On Friday the negotiators of the parties ended their explorations and presented a result paper. Thereafter, there should be no tax increases and the debt brake should be adhered to. The statutory minimum wage is to rise to twelve euros per hour. In terms of climate protection, accelerated expansion of renewable energies and an exit from coal are planned, ideally by 2030, among other things.
As the last of the three parties, the FDP approved the exploratory results on Monday and voted to start coalition negotiations. In the coming weeks, it will also be about the layout and staffing of the ministries.
A dispute between the Greens and the FDP is looming over the Ministry of Finance in particular. FDP leader Christian Lindner has already signaled his interest, Greens co-leader Robert Habeck reacted angrily. However, the content-related plans of the coalition agreement are to be determined first.
Greens expect “tough negotiations”
The Greens expect difficult negotiations on a possible traffic light coalition. “There is a good basis, but tough negotiations are still ahead of us,” said Green Vice President Ricarda Lang, referring to the upcoming talks with the SPD and FDP in the “Handelsblatt” (Tuesday edition). “Of course we will still have to clarify a lot with the SPD and FDP when it comes to financing, climate protection or social policy, for example.”
Claudia Roth, a member of the Bundestag, also expects hard disputes over the details of the planned government alliance. “Of course, the next few weeks in the struggle for a future-oriented policy will be intense, exhausting and difficult,” said Roth of the “Augsburger Allgemeine” (Tuesday edition).
Roth rejected calls by FDP politicians Marco Buschmann and Wolfgang Kubicki to award the finance ministry to Liberal leader Christian Lindner as unsuitable. “It’s a dissonance that upsets the sound, which has been really good so far,” she said. “First of all, we are now negotiating the content, the division of responsibilities will follow at the end.” Lang and Roth are both part of the Green Exploratory Team.