(Update: Union negotiation team)
Berlin (dpa-AfX)-Union and SPD record explorations for a black and red federal government. The first conversation is already planned for Friday, as the German press agency learned from party circles. First, the “picture” had reported on the appointment. At the meeting, the first rough lines and a schedule for the coalition negotiations should be about to be put.
According to DPA information, both sides send nine negotiators each. For the SPD, the party leader Lars Klingbeil and Saskia Esken sit at the table, as well as Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil. Also in the negotiation team: General Secretary Matthias Miersch, Bundestag President Bärbel Bas, the two Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig and Anke Rehlinger as well as the head of the NRW SPD, household expert Achim Post.
According to information from the DPA CDU boss and election winner Friedrich Merz, CSU chairwoman Markus Söder and the general secretaries Carsten Linnemann (CDU) and Martin Huber (CSU) are exploring for the Union. Next to it sitting at the table: Union faction manager Thorsten Frei, CSU state group leader Alexander Dobrindt, Saxon Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer, the deputy CDU chairwoman Karin Prien and the CSU politician Dorothee Bär.
Merz strives for government formation until Easter
A black-red coalition is the most likely government after the Bundestag election. Merz has repeatedly made it clear that he wants to form a government until Easter. However, difficult negotiations are expected – there are significant differences in topics such as migration, debt brake and Ukraine policy.
In addition, a lot of trust between the parties was destroyed in the election campaign. The SPD accused Merz’s broken word and taboo due to a joint coordination with the AfD in the Bundestag. The CDU boss recently struggled sharply against “left-wing spinner” and acted the accusation of the SPD to act like a “mini-trump”.
Klingbeil has repeatedly made it clear that there is no automatism of a government participation: “Whether the formation of a government, whether the SPD will enter a government, is not clear,” he said. The SPD wants to have its members decided on a possible government participation ./tam/dp/he