Tuesday, November 16, 2021
SPD, Greens and FDP optimistic
Coalition agreement should be in place next week
For weeks the SPD, Greens and FDP have been negotiating the basic structure of a possible traffic light government. Now a joint coalition agreement seems to be about to be concluded. The division of responsibilities should also be clarified in the coming days.
The possible future traffic light coalition is sticking to its plan of wanting to present a coalition agreement in the coming week. This was announced by the general secretaries of the SPD and FDP, Lars Klingbeil and Volker Wissing, as well as the Greens federal manager Michael Kellner. Since Monday, the main negotiators from the SPD, Greens and FDP have discussed the results of the working groups in a very good, constructive and thorough atmosphere. “Thoroughness comes before speed,” said Kellner. The division of responsibilities should also be clarified by then, said Klingbeil.
The politicians did not give an exact date for the submission of a draft for the coalition agreement. After further deliberations on this Wednesday and Friday, the next Monday should continue to meet, said Kellner. In the course of the week, the partners sought to come to a coalition agreement. The federal manager of the Greens spoke of “very good, very constructive, very thorough” talks. Wissing says that one is making “faster progress than expected”.
SPD General Secretary Klingbeil said of the coalition negotiations: “We can do that, I am firmly convinced of that.” The parties have agreed to keep the content confidential. FDP General Secretary Wissing emphasized that everything was only decided at the end when all points had been clarified. Wissing also emphasized that the coalition agreement should contain “concrete agreements” and “no test orders”. “So we need time.” But he had “a good feeling” that the three parties could “reconcile the necessary precision and clarity with the ambitious schedule”.
The aim of the traffic light parties is that the SPD candidate for Chancellor Olaf Scholz is elected Chancellor in the German Bundestag in the week of December 6th. Before that, the party congresses of the SPD and FDP as well as a member survey among the Greens still have to approve the coalition agreement.
The youth organizations of the Greens and FDP meanwhile demanded a new political start. “We expect more departure from this traffic light,” said the chairman of the Young Liberals, Franziska Brandmann, at the “political talk from the capital” of the RBB and the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. “We got a leap of faith,” said Deborah Düring from the Green Youth. “Now it’s up to us to create these changes.”
The Juso chairwoman Jessica Rosenthal praised the coalition negotiations of the traffic light parties. “I think it’s great how seriously we negotiate.” In the end, however, a balance has to be found: “It must also be about everyone being able to find themselves somewhere.”