Dietmar Woidke and his operation to maintain power in Brandenburg

The most important political currency is the power to shape things. All ideals, programs and projects are of little value as long as they cannot be implemented.

So if Dietmar Woidke is confirmed as SPD Prime Minister by the Brandenburg state parliament this Wednesday, then from his point of view he has done something important right: he has kept his party and himself in power. This does not seem natural at a time when a right-wing extremist party is becoming increasingly stronger.

But the price for this is high. In order to remain in office, Woidke duped his own Chancellor, questioned the Federal Republic’s ties to the West and, as a result, damaged the reputation of the Social Democrats.

It’s not so much about Woidke wanting to govern with the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance. Even if the BSW is a left-wing populist construct that didn’t even exist a year ago, the coalition is justifiable. Ultimately, the conceivable alternatives beyond the AfD – a stalemate alliance with the CDU or an SPD minority government with changing majorities – would not be any better. Especially since the Union no longer wanted to participate in government.

So that only left the BSW. The planned government has a mathematical majority of two votes. Even if one representative is already missing: Woidke is likely to be elected in the third round of voting at the latest.

And yet. The compromises that the Prime Minister made in recent weeks touch on what defines the Federal Republic and what the SPD has always represented.

The new coalition views “the planned stationing of medium-range and hypersonic missiles on German soil critically.” And regarding the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the treaty states: “The war will not be able to be ended through further arms deliveries.”

These are legitimate political positions. But these are neither the positions of the federal government, which is still led by the SPD, nor of NATO, of which Germany is a member with all its alliance obligations. On the contrary.

In comparison, the formulations that were negotiated at the same time by the CDU and SPD with the BSW in Thuringia sound much more open. Above all, however, the different positions are transparently side by side in the Erfurt coalition agreement. The future government is not committing to anything.

Of course, one can ask: Who cares what any coalition in any country agrees to? Ultimately, the federal government alone is responsible for foreign and defense policy.

But Wagenknecht’s calculation still works. She wants to change the debate in Germany through government participation in the states, votes in the Bundesrat and speeches in parliament. And Brandenburg is starting here.

Dietmar Woidke obviously has no problem with that. Firstly, he is likely to expect that the issue will become part of everyday political life. Secondly, he himself is not that far removed from the BSW’s stance on these issues. And thirdly, exactly, in this way he remains in the State Chancellery.

At the same time, Woidke also embodies what distinguishes Brandenburg and East Germany from the rest of the Federal Republic: the need to create workable governments from complicated election results, the distrust of everything that is decided in Berlin, the distance to the USA and the proximity to Russia .

Woidke also thinks strategically. Once he has been re-elected as Prime Minister, he is firmly in office – even if he loses the BSW in whole or in part. A constructive vote of no confidence against him would only be possible with the help of the AfD and must be considered ruled out for the time being.

And: Woidke has shown what he is willing to do when it comes to power and he sees his authority in danger. When his Green Health Minister recently wanted to help the SPD Federal Health Minister gain a majority in the Federal Council for the hospital reform, she was spontaneously dismissed by the Prime Minister.

Woidke denied that he wanted to do the BSW a favor while the negotiations were still ongoing. But regardless of his motive, the new junior partner should see the authoritarian gesture as a warning.

Because Woidke could also treat the BSW as rudely and undignified as he recently treated the Greens. In any case, he would remain what he is: Prime Minister of Brandenburg.