No “love marriage”
CDU and SPD approve Hesse coalition agreement
December 16, 2023, 3:37 p.m
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The black-red coalition agreement in Hesse is sealed: the junior partner of the desired coalition of CDU and SPD also approves the government program – but with a lot of stomach pain.
The black-red coalition agreement in Hesse is finalized. After the CDU, the SPD also agreed to the government program for the years 2024 to 2029 after a long, controversial debate. At an extraordinary party conference in Groß-Umstadt near Darmstadt there were 253 yes and 56 no votes with eight abstentions. The contract was therefore accepted with 81.9 percent.
Previously, at a parallel small party conference of the CDU in Frankfurt, 133 delegates gave the green light for the paper with only one opposing vote. According to current plans, the coalition agreement should be signed on Monday.
SPD state leader Nancy Faeser described the black-red coalition as a “community of responsibility”. The desired government alliance is not a “love marriage,” said the Federal Interior Minister in Groß-Umstadt. For example, the coalition agreement contains goals in refugee policy that are “extremely painful.” But not joining the state government would mean that the SPD would be able to do less for migrants. At the same time, there is also a lot of social democratic influence in the 184-page paper, for example in social, housing and labor market policy.
At the SPD party conference, however, there was a lot of criticism of the contract, for example because of tight guard rails for migration or because of the planned ban on special gender symbols in schools and universities. The regional leader of the Young Socialists, Lukas Schneider, reiterated his rejection of the coalition agreement. Numerous other speakers also complained that there was not enough social democratic DNA in the government program.
After a quarter of a century on the opposition bench, the Hessian SPD is joining a black-red coalition as a clear junior partner. In the state election on October 8th, with 15.1 percent, it received less than half of the CDU’s votes (34.6 percent). The new state parliament in Wiesbaden will be constituted on January 18th, then the state government of the CDU and SPD can start.