CDU allegedly “racist”
Berlin Jusos show planned GroKo the red card
03/11/2023, 4:00 p.m
Many SPD members are not enthusiastic about the plan to enter into a grand coalition in Berlin led by the CDU. The Jusos in particular are up in arms. They express their displeasure at a discussion event. The CDU is “racist” and “reactionary”.
With a large majority, the Berlin SPD youth organization Jusos opposed the planned coalition with the CDU. A motion by the state board entitled “NoGroKo – Berlin only works with the left” received the very large majority of the approximately 80 delegates at a Jusos conference in the SPD federal headquarters in Berlin. The Jusos vehemently and with great applause demanded the continuation of the coalition with the Greens and Left and fundamentally rejected cooperation with the CDU.
Two deputy SPD state chairmen had previously campaigned in vain for such a coalition in a factual debate. Many delegates criticized the fact that the SPD state chair and governing mayor Franziska Giffey and her co-chair Raed Saleh did not appear to face the debate. Instead, Giffey visited the SPD district association in Pankow.
The application said about the CDU state chairman Kai Wegner, who is to become governing mayor according to the current plan: “Kai is the wrong first name for the Red City Hall.” He is totally unfit for the post. “Anyone who deliberately fishes through racist narratives on the far right during the election campaign” cannot be elected mayor by the Social Democrats.
CDU doubts the origin of the rioters
The CDU had polarized in the election campaign because, after the New Year’s Eve riots, they asked the first names of suspects with German nationality to find out whether they had a migration background. Wegner said at the time: “We have to know the names so that we can give precise answers and reach the young people.”
With a new website, the Jusos started the announced campaign against the planned coalition. State chairwoman Sinem Tasan-Funke said: “We will only rest once we have prevented this grand coalition.” Many discussion events are to follow. Tasan-Funke emphasized that a joint government with the CDU would be a “coalition with reactionaries”. The co-chairman Peter Maass spoke of an “honourless CDU”.
The Vice-Chairman of the SPD and State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Building, Cansel Kiziltepe, emphasized that the Greens had not made any decisive commitments in terms of content. Statements about the 29-euro ticket, housing and free day care centers have remained vague. But she also said: “Yes, the CDU is conservative. It’s not always easy. The campaign was racist, and that also affected me personally.” However, there was a promise that there would be personal statements with corrections.
5000 Jusos vote on coalition agreement
All Juso speakers decidedly and sometimes emotionally rejected the CDU as a coalition partner and received enthusiastic applause for it. It was clear “that there should be no coalition with conservatives,” said one speaker, while others called the CDU “racist.”
The Jusos have around 5,000 members in Berlin, and SPD members under the age of 35 are automatically included. The almost 19,000 SPD members in Berlin can vote until April 21 on whether they accept or reject the coalition agreement that has been negotiated with the CDU. The negotiating commissions of the CDU and SPD began their talks on Thursday and had already presented initial agreements on issues.
In the repeat election on February 12, the CDU was ahead with 28.2 percent, the SPD and Greens both received 18.4 percent, the left came to 12.2 percent and the AfD to 9.1. The FDP flew out of parliament with 4.6 percent.