A letter from SPD parliamentarians

Twenty SPD members of the Bundestag have signed a joint paper calling on the party's Berlin state association not to open coalition talks with the Left party. Reports published on 18 October said the document had been seen by Table.Briefings, Spiegel and Bild, and its heading reads "Unser Wertekompass ist niemals verhandelbar", which translates as "Our value compass is never negotiable". Sebastian Fiedler, the SPD's domestic policy spokesman, is credited with writing the letter, and Spiegel names Johannes Schätzl, the digital policy spokesman, as one of its initiators. Other signatories include former federal interior minister Nancy Faeser, health policy spokesman Christos Pantazis, Lina Seitzl of the Berlin network, the two spokespeople of the conservative Seeheimer Kreis, Esra Limbacher and Claudia Moll, and Parliamentary State Secretary Johann Saathoff.

Grounds for the objection

The paper points to recurring antisemitism conflicts inside the Berlin Left association and to contacts into the Remmo clan environment, which Tagesspiegel describes as a criminal clan. It also cites links to actors from extremist milieus and the way the state association has handled these episodes. According to the letter, these developments give considerable doubts about the political reliability of the Berlin Left. The signatories also question whether the agreement that SPD, Greens and Left reached on 8 October, at the start of their exploratory talks, will be kept. That agreement set out shared principles, including on how to deal with antisemitism. The authors argue that the need to write such principles down is itself a problem, since basic rules of coexistence should be self-evident for democratic parties.

Fiedler's warning

Fiedler told Table.Briefings that there is still at least the appearance that parts of the Berlin Left could be connected to organised crime and terrorist organisations. He also describes a serious antisemitism problem that appears to be structural in nature. The letter adds that even the justified appearance that actors from organised crime or terrorist groups could gain political access damages trust, and it calls for firm backing for the police and security authorities.

Antisemitism is not a marginal problem that can be dealt with by a joint declaration.

— Sebastian Fiedler

Berlin's coalition arithmetic

In the Berlin state election on 20 September, Die Linke became the strongest force with 25.7 percent of the vote. The previous CDU/SPD coalition has lost its majority, and the SPD, the Greens and the Left are now trying to form a red-green-red government. The three parties had completed their exploratory talks before the 18 October reports, and the timeline below traces the sequence from the election to the letter.

Path to Berlin coalition talks, September to October 2026
  1. Berlin state election, Die Linke becomes the strongest force with 25.7 percent
  2. SPD, Greens and Left agree shared principles, including on antisemitism, at the start of exploratory talks
  3. Reports say 20 SPD Bundestag members have signed a letter opposing coalition talks with the Berlin Left
  4. Berlin SPD due to decide whether to open coalition talks with the Greens and the Left

Monday's decision

The Berlin SPD is due to decide on Monday, 19 October, whether to open coalition negotiations with the Greens and the Left. The signatories acknowledge that the Berlin association decides for itself, but they state that they firmly oppose opening coalition talks with the Berlin Left under current conditions. They frame their stance as a responsibility for the credibility of shared social democratic principles. Whether the Berlin association follows the appeal has not yet been reported.