The resumption of the interrupted explorations by the Berlin Greens has caused anger among the leadership of the federal party and the parliamentary group.
In an internal message to the Green Party's members of the Bundestag on Wednesday, co-Green Party federal chairman Felix Banaszak wrote that the Berlin regional association had decided to resume talks "seamlessly." »The responsibility for the negotiations and their consequences lies with the top candidates and state chairmen in Berlin. Further decisions will be made at the Berlin state level," says the text message, which SPIEGEL has received and was confirmed in Green circles.
In consultation with his co-chairwoman Franziska Brantner and the parliamentary group leaders Britta Haßelmann and Katharina Dröge, Banaszak explained: "We as party and parliamentary group leaders in the federal government have made it clear in the last few weeks what we believe are the prerequisites for coalition talks with the Left in Berlin. Especially if you want an alliance with the Left and the SPD to have a real chance of improving people's lives, the conditions have to be right." The Left did not keep the promised agreements.
The background to the exploratory talks between the Left, the Greens and the SPD in Berlin, which were interrupted on Tuesday evening, was a previously passed decision in the Left faction in the Berlin House of Representatives on the subject of anti-Semitism. The SPD and the Greens then accused the party of submitting a completely new statement instead of the unified statement from last week. The left-wing faction had also welcomed the controversial radical pro-Palestinian MP Vanessa Emde.
The Left is said to have assured the Greens in the preliminary discussions that they would not include Emde in the parliamentary group. At least that's what Green Party leader Felix Banaszak claimed. The left contradicted this representation.
On rbb24 Inforadio, co-state chairwoman Nina Stahr said on Wednesday morning that the talks had been interrupted but not broken off. "We'll continue to sit at the table and we'll wait for the Left Party to come back now, and on the basis of our mutual agreement we can then continue to talk." The Left Party must explain what agreement it has concluded with its parliamentary group, said the Green Party, which belongs to the Realo wing of the regional association.
The course is controversial in the Berlin regional association. The Green Party member of the state parliament, Jakob Zimmer, wrote on Instagram: “For me as a Green, it is clear: the explorations must continue.”
Other Greens, however, called for us to also prepare for new options. “For us Greens, the following applies: We are not the bloc party of the Left,” said a statement from the district executive of the Greens in Mitte, which was available to SPIEGEL. Despite the overlap in content, there is no automaticity for a coalition. "That's why other democratic options must now be explored, without fundamentally ruling out a coalition with the left."
They support the decision to interrupt the explorations. »Responsibility for this situation lies with the Left Party. Currently, the left apparently lacks the reliability that is necessary for viable agreements. The Left must confirm the pre-exploratory paper clearly and without changes. If you want to govern, you have to be able to promise what will happen in the end," said the Greens in Mitte, who, with 2,800 members, are the district association with the largest number of members in the Berlin state Greens (around 17,800 members).
From the Greens regional association in Berlin, which is traditionally politically more left-wing than other parts of the federal party, the statements made by the federal leadership in recent weeks have caused dissatisfaction among some members. Green parliamentarian Marianne Burkert-Eulitz, who is leaving the House of Representatives, now posted on X: “Berlin Greens are doing their homework alone. This doesn't require clever sayings from the federal level who don't know the situation in Berlin's state politics or have ever been interested in it."
