After the Berlin SPD is also considering a three-party coalition with the Left and the Greens, the first exploratory talks will take place in the next few days. First of all, the Left wants to speak separately with the Greens and the SPD. Exact dates have not yet been announced by the parties.
Exploratory talks are not yet coalition negotiations. During the first discussions, the representatives of the parties determine which points are particularly important to them and whether coalition negotiations would even be promising.
After debates, the SPD agrees to explore the matter
As the winner of the Berlin election on Friday evening, the Berlin Left decided at a party conference to invite the Greens and the SPD to exploratory talks. Because there are differences on many points - for example on the topics of expropriation and the possible abolition of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution - there were discussions between the political camps, particularly in the Berlin SPD. There is also the accusation that the Berlin left also includes representatives with anti-Semitic attitudes.
However, the SPD state executive committee decided on Saturday evening to get involved in the explorations. The team for the talks consists of the two state chairmen Steffen Krach and Bettina König as well as Derya Caglar for the parliamentary group. Depending on the topic, there are also specialist politicians.
Former Chancellor Scholz: The Left will have to accept compromises
After the House of Representatives election, an alliance between the CDU, which slipped to second place, with the Greens and the SPD would also be mathematically possible. Krach had stated that he would also speak to the CDU if they invited.
Former SPD Chancellor Olaf Scholz assumes that the Left will have to make concessions. He couldn't predict everything that would come out of it, said Scholz at a public discussion on Friday evening in Nuthetal in Brandenburg. “Also what changes the left accepts for itself. She will have to.”
Federal Green Party Chairwoman Brantner with conditions
For the Greens, federal chairwoman Franziska Brantner set conditions. “Personally, I find it difficult to imagine the Left Party leading the interior or justice departments as long as there are people in the party with connections to organized crime or extremist forces such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the PFLP, or Hamas,” she told Der Spiegel magazine.
Regarding demands in the Left's election program for the abolition of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and considerations regarding the police, according to which it should be "replaced or supplemented by social work wherever possible," Brantner said: "We have a clearly different position and attitude: We will not allow the Office for the Protection of the Constitution or the police to be abolished; that is not acceptable to us."
The Berlin Greens had stated that at a first informal meeting with the left in the middle of last week it was made clear “that clarification about anti-Semitism, racism and social cohesion” was a basic prerequisite for exploratory discussions.
Greens want member vote later
The exploratory team consists of the two top candidates Werner Graf and Bettina Jarasch and the two state chairmen Nina Stahr and Philmon Ghirmai. Later, a small party conference will decide whether to enter into coalition negotiations. After the negotiations there is a vote by all Berlin members.
The Left was by far the strongest force in the election for the Berlin House of Representatives last Sunday with 25.7 percent. The party 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.
Union parliamentary group leader: Berlin must not fall into the hands of the left
The CDU/CSU faction leader in the Bundestag, Thorsten Frei, warned the Greens and the SPD against government cooperation with the Left. “The Berlin Left Party maintains disturbingly close contact with Jew-haters and people from the orbit of organized crime,” Frei told the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger”.
“The SPD and the Greens must influence their regional associations so that they do not fall for lure offers.” Berlin, as Germany's capital and showcase across the world, must not "fall into the hands of the Left Party, which represents a blatant threat to our security."
Debate about anti-Semitism
Since election Sunday, there has been heated discussion across the country about anti-Semitism in the Left Party and contacts in the clan milieu. The debate also sparked great skepticism among potential coalition partners the Greens and SPD. Both parties called on the Left to clarify that it is against anti-Semitism and stands for the protection of Jewish life.
Parts of the Berlin Left have long been criticized for their positions on Israel and Palestine and anti-Semitism. An election party for the Left in Neukölln caused a stir, at which both the head of an Arab-born and partly criminal clan and a controversial pro-Palestinian activist were present. He is said to be close to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which is classified as a terrorist organization by the EU.
The left-wing Bundestag member from Neukölln, Ferat Koçak, is under pressure because he exchanged friendly chat messages with a son of an extended family associated with the clan milieu.
