From Hildburg Bruns
Giffey’s SPD or Jarasch’s Greens? CDU election winner OFFICIALLY announced on Thursday with whom the coalition is being negotiated.
He won the election with a ten percent lead and now has the choice himself: GroKo or GrüKo? Berlin’s soon-to-be governing mayor Kai Wegner (50, CDU) has opted for an alliance with the SPD instead of the Greens.
The CDU state board will make the official preliminary decision on joint coalition negotiations on Thursday. The result will be announced at 5:30 p.m.
Election loser Franziska Giffey (44) is already in yes-I-want mode. And with the Green tip around Bettina Jarasch (54), Wegner & Co. sat with wine until late on Tuesday.
Kai Wegner (CDU) and Franziska Giffey (SPD) during the exploratory talks on the EUREF campus Photo: DAVIDS
“In important fundamental issues, the agreement between the CDU and SPD seems greater,” says the last Berlin CDU governing mayor Eberhard Diepgen (81) to BZ His GroKo crashed in 2001 because of the banking affair.
Wegner attacked the Greens vigorously during the election campaign, but the encounters after the election were demonstratively cordial.
“It’s good that Kai Wegner made inquiries with both the Greens and the SPD. We must also look to the future. Berlin’s problems cannot be solved in three years,” says ex-Justice Senator Michael Braun (67, CDU).
In a few years, the time for black and green could be more mature – with the Berlin CDU and the hardcore ecos from Kreuzberg, Braun believes. After all, such alliances already exist in Schleswig-Holstein, North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse and Baden-Württemberg.
But in the capital, both sides tick differently, more ideologically. “There are Greens who don’t even shake my hand. They would never elect Kai Wegner as governor in a secret ballot,” says a CDU MP.
Black and red must get going quickly: this time only 3.5 years remain until the next election in autumn 2026 (five is normal). You can only set up a single double budget with new projects.
And in 2.5 years, new candidates will be nominated again – in other words, then it will be difficult to govern again in times of the pre-election campaign.
Bettina Jarasch and Kai Wegner are on their way to their exploratory talks Photo: dpa
Wegner on the Greens
► “I am surprised that the Greens stubbornly say in this referendum that you have to do it. With me there will be no expropriations.” (BZ, February 8, 2023)
►“Berlin, don’t let the car ban you.” (CDU campaign poster 2023)
►It’s not a question of liberal or non-liberal, because hard drugs are pure poison.” (BZ, August 13, 2022 on the Greens’ demand “Right to intoxication”)
►“Ms. Jarasch does not make politics for cyclists, she makes politics against drivers.” (Zeit.de, February 9, 2023)
►“If I look at the development of the Greens from the A 100 to Friedrichstrasse, area-wide 30 km/h plus halving of parking spaces, I find it very difficult to imagine a coalition with this party at the moment.” (BZ, January 30, 2023)
Wegner on the SPD
►“The SPD never talks to its partners on an equal footing… This SPD system must be ended.” (“World,” January 9, 2023)
►“I do believe that Berliners are capable of suffering … And in fact no prime minister in Germany is more unpopular than Ms. Giffey.” (“Taz,” January 30, 2023)
►“Giffey has repeatedly taken over parts of our CDU program, from education and rent policy to internal security, keyword video protection … but then showed that she cannot assert herself within the party.” (“Daily Mirror”, December 2021)
►“My impression is that the SPD would like to leave everything as it is. There is a bit of a willingness to change among the Greens.” (“World,” January 9, 2023)
►“The question arises as to whether Ms. Giffey is now changing the left-wing SPD in Berlin, or whether the left-wing SPD will rather be changing Ms. Giffey.” (“Berliner Morgenpost”, January 2020)