The previous and future Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) spoke to around 120 delegates in Güstrow about a strong coalition agreement. All three partners have a lot in common and also the same goals. The methods and instruments are discussed in different ways. That is a good starting point. The SPD vote was unanimous.
According to Schwesig, there is clarity in the contract: “With this coalition of the SPD, the Greens and the Left, there will and cannot be any cooperation with the AfD,” she emphasized. "We are not writing off the AfD voters. We want to make politics for everyone. We have a very clear stance towards those who bear responsibility in the AfD. There can be no cooperation with them. But we will remain in conversation with those who doubt our democracy and also us."
Claudia Müller, the Green Party's only designated minister for the new state government, campaigned for the coalition agreement in Stralsund in front of around 100 delegates. “I’m really proud of what we achieved as the smallest of the three partners.” In the end, the contract is a compromise. But there are “green lighthouses” in the plant.
Müller defended that, unlike the Left, the Greens will only lead one ministry in the future. “This is a real design house.” The 45-year-old, who was most recently a member of the Bundestag, will be responsible for environmental, nature and climate protection, energy, mobility and equality in the state cabinet. With a view to the majority in the state parliament, she said: "This state parliament is going to be tough. The AfD is the only opposition party."
Despite repeated criticism from speakers at the Green party conference that the area of integration and migration in the coalition agreement did not meet their demands, there was broad support for the agreement. In the end, the vote for the coalition agreement was unanimous, with one abstention. The delegates celebrated the result with a standing ovation.
The coalition agreement was to be signed on Saturday evening in the Pomeranian State Museum in Stralsund. The Greens previously wanted to elect a new state executive board. The previous state chairman Ole Krüger had also called for the acceptance of the coalition agreement: People trusted the party “because we promised them that with us there would be a stable democratic majority in the Schwerin state parliament”. Unfortunately, this is no longer a given in these times and for an eastern German state.
In Güstrow, Schwesig referred to the SPD handwriting in the coalition agreement. The contract contains the guarantee for continued free daycare and for small daycare groups, the expansion of the internship bonus, the state development bank and the collective bargaining loyalty law. “What we promised, we kept and is anchored in this coalition agreement.”
Manuela Schwesig has been head of government in MV since 2017. The 52-year-old wants to stand for re-election in the state parliament on Monday. There, red-red-green has a majority of 39 of the total 71 seats. The AfD is the only opposition party and has 32 seats. The previous red-red government lost its governing majority in the state elections on September 20th.
The 133-page coalition program is titled “Cohesion, Confidence, Future” and was drawn up over the past few weeks by the negotiating delegations led by Schwesig, Müller and the Left Party leader Hennis Herbst. The legislative period lasts five years.
The distribution of departments has also been determined. The SPD has five ministers - one of them non-party - as well as the head of the State Chancellery. The Left occupied two ministries and the Greens received one ministerial post. Five of the government team are women and five are men.
Maritime economy, food industry and medicine are some of the key issues that the new government wants to focus on. The coalition partners promise companies less bureaucracy - also through more digitalization. This should also help save 1,000 administrative positions by 2035. The red-red-green coalition also wants to work to exempt residents of wind and solar parks from network fees. They should also share in the profits of the investments.
The SPD, the Left and the Greens do not want to shake the welfare state. There is one billion euros for the modernization of hospitals by 2035. Daycare centers will remain free, the government is considering a mandatory preschool year, wants to strengthen mathematics teaching and hire more teachers in order to reduce the record number of lost hours. A new university location is planned in Schwerin. Young people should also receive a subsidy of 20 euros for the Deutschland Ticket from 2028.
