Budget and bureaucracy – first exploratory round in Erfurt
Published: Monday, Sep 30th 2024, 19:00
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Four weeks after the state elections in Thuringia, the leaders of the CDU, BSW and SPD are sounding out the chances of a so-called blackberry coalition in exploratory talks. After the first round of talks in Erfurt, representatives of the three parties said they were looking for stability, but also for change in Thuringia.
The exploratory talks are intended to discuss political commonalities, but also dividing factors in the run-up to possible coalition negotiations. The second round of exploratory talks is scheduled for this Wednesday.
Blackberry coalition without its own majority
In Thuringia, the AfD emerged as the strongest party in a state election for the first time in Germany. It finished well ahead of the CDU, which believes it has the task of forming a government. The BSW came in third place. The Left Party of incumbent Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow came fourth. With a single-digit result, the SPD made it into the state parliament, to which the Greens and FDP do not belong.
Forming a government in Thuringia is extremely difficult after the election results. A "blackberry coalition" would only have 44 out of 88 votes in the state parliament. To break the deadlock, at least one vote would have to come from the opposition.
Debt brake not called into question
The Parliamentary Secretary of the CDU parliamentary group, Andreas Bühl, spoke of trusting and serious talks between the three potential partners. Initially, the talks focused on modernizing the administration, reducing bureaucracy and future budgetary policy. The CDU wanted to enable future investments, but at the same time adhere to the debt brake.
Tilo Kummer, Parliamentary Secretary of the Wagenknecht party BSW, said that his party wanted to raise the profile of the administration as a service provider for citizens and companies. Despite the debt brake, the financial situation of local authorities should be improved.
The vice-chairwoman of the SPD, Katharina Schenk, made it clear that the Social Democrats, as a long-standing governing party, want to preserve the social achievements of recent years. In the talks with the CDU and BSW, it must be clarified in which policy areas there is consensus and in which there is dissent. Schenk stood in for Thuringia's SPD leader Georg Maier, who is ill with an infection, at the meeting, which was attended by the party and parliamentary group leaders of the CDU and BSW.
BSW leader Katja Wolf said at the start of the first round of exploratory talks: "We are well prepared, we are indeed full of energy and we know what is at stake, namely shaping Thuringia well."
The exploratory talks are a preliminary stage for possible coalition negotiations. Thuringia's CDU party leader Mario Voigt had already held some kind of introductory talks with the top representatives of the other two parties in recent weeks. Voigt is seeking the office of Minister President after ten years in opposition for the CDU in Thuringia.
Demands by Wagenknecht's party to include Thuringia's position on the war in Ukraine in the negotiations have been met with great skepticism by the other two partners in recent weeks. Shortly before the start of the exploratory talks, the Thuringian SPD junior party spoke out against the Social Democrats' participation in government.
©Keystone/SDA
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