At a small party congress in Berlin, the delegates voted with a large majority to start negotiations on the formation of a joint federal government. According to the party, only two of 70 delegates voted no – and there was one abstention.
Previously, co-party chairman Robert Habeck and other members of the Green exploratory team had sworn the delegates to future government participation: “We will be the drivers of major transformation tasks,” said Habeck, who asked for a mandate for a “progressive government”. His party is about to become part of a federal government for the second time. “Indeed, we are currently writing a bit of green history.”
“Shaping Reality”
Habeck emphasized the Greens’ will to power after years in the opposition. The party must now prove that it is ready to take on government responsibility. “We come from the defensive to the design, to the offensive.” The Greens could now help shape it. “We want this responsibility,” emphasized Habeck. “We want to shape reality.”
After the Social Democrats and Greens voted in favor, the ball is now in the hands of the FDP, and the party committees will vote today. Approval is considered certain, as party chairman Christian Lindner has expressly advertised for it. “The exploratory paper contains many concerns of the FDP,” said Lindner of “Bild am Sonntag”. Seldom has there been a greater opportunity to modernize society, the economy and the state. “We don’t want to let the chance slip by.”
“One-time exception”
The paper presented on Friday contained FDP concerns “from solid finances to investments in clean technologies and digitization, better education and new opportunities for advancement to social liberality,” said Lindner. He also emphasized that the discussions were “professional, discreet and fair”. Lindner defended the planned increase in the minimum wage to twelve euros, which is a core concern of the SPD, as a “one-time exception”. This exception is “justifiable and corresponds to the opinion of the majority of the population”.
SPD chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz sees a project for several years in the targeted traffic light coalition: “We not only want to conduct professional traffic light negotiations now, but also govern together so well that we will be re-elected,” he tweeted on Saturday. That will succeed if the future federal government shows the citizens: “There is a new departure, they are making the right decisions for our future.”
Forming a government is a give and take, said SPD Prime Minister Malu Dreyer, who herself leads a traffic light alliance in Rhineland-Palatinate. “All in all, we were able to achieve a lot of what we set out to do before the election.”
Great praise from CDU grandees
It is noteworthy that even top CDU politicians expressed themselves very positively about the result of the traffic light explorations: “There are a lot of good things in it,” said Armin Laschet, the failed CDU / CSU candidate for chancellor at the Junge Union (JU) Germany Day North Rhine-Westphalian Minster. But much is also “claused”. The CDU must now look carefully. “We will measure them by the deeds, not by twelve pages of exploratory paper,” said Laschet.
Previously, Friedrich Merz had also paid tribute to the three potential traffic light partners for their exploratory concept. “I think you have presented a considerable paper,” said Merz to the editorial network in Germany. “This is an occasion for respect and critical self-examination: we could have had that too.” He set a significantly different accent than Union faction leader Ralph Brinkhaus, who criticized the concept.
With all the harmony and confidence in the SPD, Greens and FDP, however, the first clouds are gathering with regard to the ministerial posts. It has been customary for some time that the second strongest force in a multi-party coalition is entitled to the post of finance minister. That would be the Greens after the federal election. However, there are numerous voices in the FDP who see their party leader Christian Lindner in this office.
Lindner as finance minister?
“Anyone who has doubts that everything will succeed – the financing of the project without a tax increase and without new debts – must want Lindner to become finance minister in order to document that it works. Otherwise the FDP would have the cake in its face” , said Vice-FDP chairman Wolfgang Kubicki the radio station NDR-Info.
“I can’t think of anyone better for this job,” said the parliamentary manager of the FDP parliamentary group, Marco Buschmann, to the “Spiegel”. The negotiators only say that the allocation of posts will only be discussed at the very end of the coalition negotiations.
Lindner portrait up “Page 4
