Berlin: Greens and SPD Agree to Coalition Talks with the Left

The Greens and the SPD want to start in Berlin with the Left Party coalition negotiations. Both parties decided in the evening for the talks – the vote on the left is still pending. After the Berlin SPD, the Greens have also decided on joint coalition negotiations with the Left Party. At a small party congress in the evening, a broad majority voted for it. Only two of the 45 delegates voted against. Earlier in the evening, the SPD state board had already spoken out at a digital meeting for coalition talks. According to the party, 26 board members voted for the negotiations, three voted against. The Left Party will only vote on this at a party congress on October 31. If agreed, the coalition talks could begin in early November. If this succeeds, Left parliamentary group leader Elif Eralp could become the first governing mayor of her party in Berlin. The Greens and the SPD were equally positive about the soundings. Speaking for the Greens, Werner Graf said: "We have really achieved many Green successes in the exploratory paper." There are, for example, more cycle paths, more quality in local transport, no further construction of the A100 motorway. There will be more traffic calming. "A new era will dawn in transport policy," Graf said. Praise from the Greens and SPD The SPD also praised the joint paper. "We have succeeded in successfully introducing many SPD positions into the soundings and we want to continue this in the coalition negotiations," said the SPD state chairs Bettina König and Steffen Krach. "To this end, we have received a clear mandate from the state board today." In the election for the Berlin House of Representatives on 20 September, the left had become the strongest force with 25.7 percent. Behind this, the CDU reached 18.8 percent, the AfD 16.3 percent, the Greens 14.3 percent and - with their historically worst result - the SPD 12.1 percent. The ruling CDU/SPD coalition clearly lost its majority. Agreement on socialization Left, Greens and SPD had achieved a breakthrough in their exploratory talks on Saturday. They agreed, among other things, on the socialization of large real estate groups, a new construction program for 100,000 apartments and the stronger promotion of public transport. The parties had agreed on the exploratory paper in temporarily laborious negotiations. In particular, discussions about how the left dealt with anti-Semitism, fueled by several incidents in its own party, made the talks more difficult. A joint declaration on this is to be included in the coalition agreement if a government is formed. In it, the possible coalition for the protection of Jewish life, the right of Israel to exist and a two-state solution, which should enable both Israel’s security and the self-determination of the Palestinians. In the event of breaches of the principles, sanctions are provided for up to the exclusion of groups.