The Left, Greens and SPD have begun negotiations on forming a red-green-red coalition in Berlin. A coalition agreement could be completed by December, although no timetable has been guaranteed and the talks are expected to last several weeks.
The final approval process will involve the parties’ memberships. The Left and SPD plan to hold binding votes among their members, while the Greens intend to conduct a digital consultation before submitting the agreement to a party congress for a final decision.
The negotiations are based on a joint exploratory paper presented two weeks ago. Its most contentious proposal is the planned transfer of around 160,000 apartments owned by five major corporations into public ownership in exchange for compensation. Such a move would be unprecedented in Germany.
The coalition talks follow the state election on September 20, in which the Left emerged as the strongest party with 25.7 percent of the vote. The CDU won 18.8 percent, the AfD 16.3 percent, the Greens 14.3 percent and the SPD 12.1 percent. The previous CDU-SPD coalition lost its majority.
The process has been overshadowed by controversy surrounding Left candidate Elif Eralp. An interview-related error revealed internal comments indicating that Eralp feared for her family’s safety if she explicitly addressed a well-known pro-Palestinian activist whom the report described as sympathetic to terrorism. Eralp has defended her decision to weigh her words carefully, saying that the safety of her family and herself had to be taken into account.
Eralp has since received police protection. Authorities had previously said they had no evidence of a specific threat against her, but the publication of the interview material and calls for a protest outside the meeting venue led security officials to consider protection necessary.
Eralp rejected demands for her resignation and said she would not be intimidated. She also pledged to oppose antisemitism, racism, violence, terrorism glorification and every form of hostility toward people. The magazine that published the report defended its decision, arguing that the public interest outweighed the security concerns raised in the interview comments.
The CDU is seeking to keep an alternative governing arrangement open. CDU politician Kai Wegner said his party would offer talks to the SPD and Greens. A CDU-Greens-SPD coalition would also have a parliamentary majority, although only a narrow one. The SPD and Greens have so far stressed that their planned meeting with the CDU concerns the transition until a new Senate is formed, rather than formal exploratory negotiations.
Tensions have also emerged within the Left. Parliamentarian Vanessa Emde, who took part in a pro-Palestinian solidarity demonstration, faces the possibility of being excluded from the parliamentary group. The group leadership says it no longer sees a basis for joint work with her. A planned meeting with Emde was postponed after she reported being ill, and the decision on her status has been deferred.
The new Berlin House of Representatives has 153 members. Left politician Bahar? Klein was elected parliamentary president, while CDU candidate Cornelia Seibeld won one of the deputy presidency posts. The AfD candidate for the other deputy position failed to secure a majority, leaving that post vacant for now.
Sources: Süddeutsche Zeitung.