Government formation: noiseless premiere: black and red probes quietly and quietly

Almost four and a half hours of the Union and SPD in Berlin have explored the possibilities for the formation of a black and red federal government behind closed doors. “The exploratory round will meet again next week,” said the general secretaries of the CDU, CSU and SPD, Carsten Linnemann, Martin Huber and Matthias Miersch. At first nobody commented in front of the cameras from the negotiation teams. According to information from the German Press Agency, the next round should take place on Thursday at the latest, Tuesday is also under discussion.

Constructive atmosphere with a focus on current budgetary situation

“The exploratory talks started in an open and constructive atmosphere,” it said. No details were given on the content of the consultations – only that Federal Finance Minister Jörg Kukies (SPD) gave the round an overview of the budget situation.

The first talks had started in the morning at around 10 a.m. Leading representatives of the three parties had arrived in Berlin in a Bundestag building, the Jakob-Kaiser-Haus. Before the eighteen -headed big round, the leaders from the Union and the SPD had initially exchanged almost an hour in a small round. In addition to the party leader Friedrich Merz (CDU), Markus Söder (CSU), Lars Klingbeil and Saskia Esken (both SPD), CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt (CSU), Union Group Managing Director Thorsten (CDU) and SPD general secretary Matthias Miersch (SPD) took part.

According to reports, the first meeting should only be about five days after the Bundestag election to clean up atmospheric inconsistencies from the election campaign. We were also talking about “developing a feeling for each other”.

Survey: Some SPD MPs do not want a Chancellor Merz

A survey by the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung” shows how urgently a new cooperation is necessary. According to this, there are at least eight among the 120 SPD MPs in the new Bundestag who have a problem to choose Merz as Chancellor. The coalition of the SPD and Union would only have a narrow majority of 12 votes – which is why the Chancellor majority is currently anything but secured.

“I don’t have to give my voice to Friedrich Merz if he was to be elected Chancellor. I am only committed to my conscience,” the newspaper quoted the SPD MP Sebastian Roloff. He put the number of SPD MPs who critically even “three hands full” towards Merz. According to the newspaper, they also justified their doubts with the behavior of the Union in the migration vote in the Bundestag and a lack of reliability of the Union derived from it.

Merz wants government to Easter

According to DPA information, the general secretaries Carsten Linnemann (CDU) and Martin Huber (CSU) were also sitting at the table for the Union. In addition, Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU), the deputy CDU chairwoman Karin Prien and CSU-Vice Dorothee Bär.

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil also probed the SPD. Bundestag President Bärbel Bas, the two prime ministers Manuela Schwesig and Anke Rehlinger as well as the head of the NRW SPD, household expert Achim Post, were also in the negotiation team.

The meeting was also about putting the further schedule and the further procedure. Merz has repeatedly made it clear that he does not want to lose time in view of the major challenges and would like to form a government by Easter. Klingbeil repeatedly emphasized that there was no automatism for a government participation of the SPD.

Schwesig warns of “blatant AfD results” in the west

There were initially no official statements from the negotiation teams, only Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Prime Minister Schwesig made a short statement on the edge. She urged the Union and SPD to learn from the mistakes of the traffic light government: “If the Democrats do not solve the problems and do it better than the traffic light government, then the blatant AfD results from the east will also arrive in the West.”

Already after the Bundestag election 2021, the mistake was made not to take the results of the AfD seriously in the east, said Schwesig. This should not be repeated. It is therefore good and important that two prime ministers from East Germany were involved in the talks, next to her is the Saxon CDU government leader Kretschmer.

All sides would have to move and pull together

Schwesig did not want to go into the content of the talks, “trust and reliability must be drawn in front of the bracket”. This is an apprenticeship from the failed traffic light government. Constant dispute a shame not only all actors, but also democracy. “Both sides have to approach each other. Everyone has to pull themselves together and move.” With a view to the tense financial situation, Schwesig said that solid finances and scope to support the economy to support the energy transition and “Great Topics Security and Bundeswehr”.