Berlin SPD accepts invitation from the Left to exploratory talks

The Berlin SPD wants to talk to the Left about possible government cooperation. The state executive board had unanimously decided to accept the Left Party's invitation to exploratory talks, the Social Democrats announced in the evening.

The exploratory team should include up to five people: These include the two state chairmen Bettina König and Steffen Krach as well as Derya Caglar for the parliamentary group. Depending on the topic of discussion, there would also be up to two additional members of the executive state executive committee or other party experts.

Left as election winner

The Left was by far the strongest force in the election for the Berlin House of Representatives last Sunday with 25.7 percent. A party conference decided by a large majority to invite the Greens and the SPD to explore a possible red-green-red alliance. The Left wants to appoint its top candidate Elif Eralp as the governing mayor for the first time. The SPD only came in fifth place in the election.

Exploratory talks are not yet coalition negotiations. During the first discussions, those involved determine which points are particularly important to them and whether coalition negotiations would even be promising.

“Very very high hurdles”

Krach emphasized before the Left Party conference that the success of the talks could not be taken for granted. “There are definitely very high hurdles,” he said. "To be honest, the last few days haven't been exactly confidence-building."

The Berlin Left has come under criticism, among other things, because of the controversial positions of parts of the party on the Middle East conflict. The party leadership had rejected allegations of anti-Semitism.

An alliance between the CDU, which slipped to second place, with the Greens and SPD would also be mathematically possible. Krach had stated that he would also speak to the CDU if they invited. After successful explorations, the Greens want to have a small party conference decide whether to enter into coalition negotiations.