Left in Berlin: Left, Greens and SPD in Berlin agree on exploratory talks

Two and a half weeks after the election to the Berlin House of Representatives, the Left, the SPD and the Greens agreed to exploratory talks, according to media reports.

Top politicians from the parties have agreed on a package of actions that should take effect in the event of anti-Semitic incidents, the dpa news agency reported, citing party circles. In doing so, they removed a key obstacle to the start of explorations. The Tagesspiegel first reported on the agreement.

In the election for the Berlin House of Representatives on September 20th, the Left was by far the strongest force with 25.7 percent. She is aiming for a red-green-red coalition. The Greens and the SPD have made an agreement on the recently hotly debated topic of anti-Semitism, but on dealing with racism and organized crime a prerequisite for exploratory talks.

The background is several incidents on the left that also caused concern among potential coalition partners. Most recently, top politicians from the three parties met three times for so-called preliminary discussions on the topic lasting several hours.