fAccording to FAZ information, ranziska Giffey, Governing Mayor of Berlin, wants to propose coalition negotiations with the CDU to the SPD state executive this Wednesday. If the board does not agree to the proposal, Giffey will resign as SPD state chairman, it is said. However, approval by the board, which meets in the afternoon, is considered likely.
For the SPD politician, a coalition with the CDU would mean that she herself cannot remain governing mayor; the office would probably fall to CDU top candidate Kai Wegner. The CDU won the election on February 12 with 28.2 percent; The SPD and the Greens followed with 18.4 percent each, with the SPD only 53 votes ahead of the Greens.
Left SPD wing wants to continue red-green-red
By continuing the previous coalition with the Greens and the Left, Giffey could have stayed in Berlin’s Red City Hall. Giffey had said she wasn’t glued to her chair. She had rejected the demand of the left for the expropriation of private housing companies. The left wing of the Berlin SPD, on the other hand, wants to continue red-green-red. But the Berlin SPD lacks a personnel alternative.
Opponents of a black-red alliance in the Berlin SPD could try to stop it with an early state party conference. Secretary General Kevin Kühnert, who has great influence in the Berlin state association, had campaigned for red-green-red from the federal level.
But there are also considerations of a ballot by the Berlin SPD members, which would probably go in favor of black and red. In recent days there has been speculation that Giffey could continue to serve in a black and red Senate as a “super senator” with a particularly influential department.
The CDU had initially shown sympathy for an alliance with the Greens; however, the soundings revealed major differences with the Greens in many policy areas such as transport and home affairs, while there was much agreement with the SPD.