Wednesday October 13, 2021
Secretary General in “early start”
Klingbeil wants to “put something on the table” on Friday
The representatives of a possible traffic light government will meet again today in a small group to work out a basis for decision-making about the start of coalition negotiations. SPD General Secretary Klingbeil names Friday as the target in the “early start” at ntv.
After the exploratory meetings between the SPD, FDP and the Greens on Monday and Tuesday, SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbeil is cautiously optimistic that the three parties could soon enter into coalition talks. Klingbeil said on the ntv show “Frühstart” that he had “a lot of respect” for the next few days and added: “This is not an easy task, but it can work, it can succeed.”
In the past few days it has become clear that there is a “common understanding” of the exploring parties that Germany needs a government that can tackle “future tasks”. The general secretaries of the SPD, Greens and FDP are continuing their talks today about forming a government in a smaller group. You want to summarize the conversations so far. The paper to be drawn up could then serve the parties as a basis for decision-making on Friday, at the next large-scale meeting, as to whether they want to enter into formal coalition negotiations.
Scholz is gone for a moment
When asked whether it would be possible to announce coalition talks on Friday, Klingbeil said: “We are not pressed for time, but of course one thing is clear: we want it to work today and for it to work tomorrow in the general secretaries’ talks.” It is now the claim to “finish quickly”. Friday is the next time when the big group comes together again: “Our aim is to put something on the table,” said Klingbeil.
The talks were also interrupted on Tuesday lunchtime because SPD chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz had to fly to the USA in his capacity as Federal Minister of Finance. Scholz is back on Friday. While the exploratory groups of the SPD and FDP want to hand over a decision on coalition negotiations to their party bodies, the Greens plan to convene a small party congress at short notice to decide whether to start coalition negotiations.