In the East German countries
CDU Vice President Prien is open to cooperation with BSW
May 4, 2024, 7:22 a.m
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The CDU has decided to rule out cooperation with the Left Party and the AfD; according to deputy federal chairwoman Prien, the situation is different for the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance. Under certain circumstances, she could imagine cooperation between both parties, but only at the state level.
CDU federal deputy Karin Prien does not rule out her party’s collaboration with the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) after the three East German state elections. Prien, who is also Education Minister in Schleswig-Holstein, told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”: “In the states you will have to look at which personalities are running for the BSW and what political goals are in the election programs. Then you can decide whether there is a local basis for cooperation with the BSW.”
In contrast, Prien continues to reject cooperation with the Left Party and the AfD. The CDU’s “incompatibility decision” still applies here, which excludes any cooperation with the two parties, she said. At the federal level, she “cannot imagine any collaboration with the BSW at the moment.”
State elections are coming up in Brandenburg, Thuringia and Saxony in September. The situation is particularly complicated in Thuringia: in recent surveys, the AfD was in first place, the CDU in second place and the BSW about the same as the Left in third place. The question of how majorities could be formed in the federal state after the election and what a government could look like is completely open.
Schleswig-Holstein’s Prime Minister Daniel Günther recently called for more openness to cooperation with the Left Party. CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann referred to the incompatibility decision regarding cooperation with the Left.