Berlin. The Berlin parliamentary group leader of the Green Party, Werner Graf, expects his party colleagues to agree to coalition negotiations with the SPD and the Left. “I firmly assume that we will then get a majority and start these discussions,” said Graf on RBB Inforadio. He will promote it. The Greens meet in the evening (8 p.m.) for a small party conference.
The SPD is also deciding today whether to start negotiations. She will decide on this at a digital meeting of her state executive board. The basis is an exploratory paper that the three parties presented at the weekend.
However, 20 SPD members of the Bundestag have issued a joint statement against a possible coalition between their party and the Left in Berlin. “Our values compass is never negotiable,” is the headline of the paper by 20 members of the SPD parliamentary group on the formation of a government in the capital. “Spiegel”, “Bild” and “Table.Briefings”, which each said they had the paper, reported on this. SPD parliamentary group leader Matthias Miersch confirmed in the ARD program “Caren Miosga” that 20 SPD MPs had made critical comments.
The recurring anti-Semitism conflicts in the Berlin regional association of the Left, the contacts in the Remmo environment, i.e. with a criminal clan, as well as with actors from extremist milieus and the handling of these events gave rise to “significant doubt” about the political reliability of the regional association, the media quoted from the statement.
The decision-making sovereignty of the Berlin SPD is respected. "As members of the SPD parliamentary group, we also see our responsibility for the credibility of common social democratic principles. That is why, under the current conditions, we strongly oppose the start of coalition negotiations with the Berlin Left," the statement said, according to media reports.
Juso boss Philipp Türmer, on the other hand, sees an opportunity in a possible red-green-red state government in Berlin - and according to his own statements, he is not alone in his party. “I also know a lot of people in the social democrats who are in favor of us looking for progressive alliances again,” said the federal chairman of the SPD youth organization in the ARD “Morgenmagazin”. Above all, the voters made it very clear that they wanted a different coalition than the previous one and did not want a Berlin coalition led by the CDU.
The Left, the Greens and the SPD agreed on the exploratory paper presented on Saturday in what were at times laborious negotiations. The discussion about consistent action against anti-Semitism made the conversations more difficult. A joint statement on the subject of anti-Semitism should be included in the coalition agreement if a government is formed.
The most controversial project nationwide is likely to be the socialization of around 160,000 apartments from five companies. Such a step in return for compensation would be unique in Germany. The aim is to slow down the recent steady rise in rents by having more influence on the housing market.
The implementation will probably take time. The three parties want to present a law in mid-2028 that will only come into force one year after the decision is passed. In the meantime, it will probably be reviewed by the Constitutional Court, and lawsuits from the housing industry are expected.
The compensation amount for the affected housing groups should be limited to 16 billion euros, financed with loans and refinanced through rents. Private companies with more than 10,000 apartments in Berlin will be affected. They are likely to retain a basic inventory of 10,000 apartments.
In addition to Union parliamentary group leader Thorsten Frei (CDU), SPD parliamentary group leader Miersch also expressed his opposition in the ARD program “Caren Miosga”. This is the wrong approach, said Miersch. Frei described socialization as the stupidest thing you could do. Money that Berlin doesn't have is being spent on apartments that already exist, and investors are also being scared away.
The federal government had already decided in July that it wanted to prevent such a transfer into public ownership, which the Basic Law allows in principle. The Union in particular fears that the red-green-red plans will damage Germany as a business location.
So far, however, there is no draft law, just a resolution from the coalition committee. The ban plans are still being coordinated by the federal government, as a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior announced at the request of the German Press Agency.
