Linke, the Greens and the SPD have completed exploratory talks on forming a government in Berlin, four weeks after the state election of 20 September. dpa learned from circles of all three parties that the parties' executive bodies will now be asked to approve formal coalition negotiations. The parties invited the press to a joint statement at 17:00 on Saturday, 17 October, at the Haus der Statistik in Berlin-Mitte, where they planned to present the exploratory paper and the next steps.
The Greens will vote on the outcome at a small party conference on Monday, 19 October. The SPD's state executive is expected to decide on the basis of the exploratory paper, but no date has been set. Because Berlin's two-week autumn school holidays fall in the period, the Left has scheduled its party conference for 31 October. If all three parties approve, coalition negotiations could start in early November.
- Berlin state election; Left wins 25.7% of the vote
- Exploratory talks between Left, Greens and SPD begin
- SPD and Greens halt the talks over the antisemitism dispute
- Parties agree again on a joint statement on antisemitism
- Vanessa Emde criticises the faction statement on Instagram
- Emde dispute resurfaces inside the Left
- Joint press statement at the Haus der Statistik
- Greens hold a small party conference on the outcome
- Left party conference votes on opening coalition talks
- Coalition negotiations could begin if all three parties agree
The antisemitism row that stalled the talks
The exploratory talks began on Thursday, 8 October, after the Greens and the SPD had made an agreement on handling antisemitic incidents within the Left a precondition. That agreement allows for sanctions up to expulsion from the parliamentary group. The Left then asked its MPs to sign a separate party statement, which matched the joint text only in part, and at the same time the faction admitted the disputed MP Vanessa Emde. On Tuesday, 13 October, the SPD and the Greens halted the talks.
Talks resumed on Wednesday, 14 October, when the parties reached agreement again. Left faction leader Elif Eralp told ZDFheute that the misunderstandings between the parties had been cleared up.
The misunderstandings between us have been cleared up.
The joint statement is meant to become part of a possible coalition agreement. Points of contention in the final stretch included the socialisation of large property companies and future financial policy, and party leaders met from morning until evening on Thursday and Friday. Berlin voters approved socialising large housing companies in a 2021 referendum, a measure that has still not been implemented.
The Emde case returns to the Left
On Friday, 16 October, the affair caught up with the Left again. Neukölln MP Vanessa Emde had criticised the faction's antisemitism statement sharply on Instagram on Thursday evening, 15 October, two days after she had signed it herself. In the video she reaffirmed her earlier statement that there is a right of existence only for people, not for states. Critics accuse her of questioning Israel's right to exist.
Election result behind the talks
The Left won the 20 September election with 25.7% of the vote, ahead of the CDU on 18.8%, the AfD on 16.3%, the Greens on 14.3% and the SPD on 12.1%, the SPD's worst result on record. The CDU and SPD coalition that governed Berlin lost its majority. A Left, Greens and SPD coalition would hold 91 seats, 14 more than the absolute majority. A CDU, Greens and SPD coalition would have only two seats above that majority.