Then it should “finally start”, said Klingbeil on Monday in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin”. After the first exploratory round, the FDP continues to vote with the Greens. Its federal managing director Michael Kellner also announced that he would wait for all exploratory talks first. “Then we draw a line underneath and see how it goes on,” said Kellner in the ZDF program. The Greens do not speak to the CDU and CSU until Tuesday. FDP General Secretary Volker Wissing also said on ZDF that his party wanted to wait for the talks between the Union and the Greens. Then there will be an internal evaluation. “Because getting caught between the Greens and the FDP would be the safe way into the grand coalition,” he said. Nobody wants that.
FDP: No tax increases
Wissing also emphasized that the FDP does not want to move from its position that there should be no tax increases. “The FDP said that clearly, and the FDP is not moving away from this position either,” he said. We know that tax policy is always a major hurdle for coalitions. The party programs are clearly different at this point. In terms of content, the FDP is closer to the CDU and CSU. “But the Union’s willingness to implement tax reforms in the past was also manageable,” says Wissing.
“Conservatives belong on the opposition bench”
Klingbeil spoke again in the “Morgenmagazin” against a continuation of the grand coalition of the SPD and the Union. He is “firmly convinced that the Conservatives belong on the opposition bench,” he said. However, he was also against pre-defining the content of the exploratory talks for a traffic light coalition. “It’s not about formulating red lines now,” says Klingbeil. It is about mastering the major challenges for Germany. We know that the twelve-euro minimum wage, affordable housing and stable pensions are very important questions for the SPD.
In any case, the SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach expects a government coalition made up of the SPD, the Greens and the FDP. “I am firmly convinced that we will get a traffic light alliance,” says Lauterbach on Sunday evening in Bild TV. This is a very good alliance: “Modern social policy of the SPD, aggressive environmental policy of the Greens, digitization and freedom rights of the FDP.” In contrast, a possible coalition of the CDU / CSU, the Greens and the FDP would not be stable for long in his opinion.
SPD exploratory talks with smaller parties
Mathematically possible after the election on September 26, in addition to an alliance of SPD and Union, a traffic light coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP as well as a Jamaica alliance led by the CDU / CSU. On Sunday, the SPD held exploratory talks separately with the two smaller parties, and the Union spoke with the FDP. In the days before, the explorers from the Greens and the FDP had already met twice.
Meanwhile, the exploratory teams of the election winners SPD and the CDU came together for talks on Monday morning. In the afternoon the SPD and FDP want to meet. Discussions of around five hours are expected in each case – as at the previous exploratory meetings with the Greens and Leftists. The Greens and the Left have also agreed to meet on Monday morning.
