CDU and Greens in North Rhine-Westphalia are speeding up the formation of a possible coalition. From Tuesday, delegations from both parties will be probing. A decision on the start of coalition negotiations is to be made as early as Sunday.

Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) – CDU and Greens are meeting today (2.30 p.m.) for their first exploratory round for a possible black-green coalition. The eleven-strong delegations meet in Düsseldorf under the leadership of the CDU election winner and Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst and the Green Party leader Mona Neubaur.

The bodies of both parties want to decide on the start of coalition negotiations as early as next Sunday. It would be the first alliance between the CDU and the Greens in the most populous federal state.

The CDU clearly won the election on May 15 with 35.7 percent. With 26.7 percent, the SPD slipped to its worst result in a state election in North Rhine-Westphalia. The Greens were able to almost triple their share of the vote compared to 2017 to 18.2 percent and ended up in third place.

The CDU and Greens would therefore have a comfortable majority in the new state parliament. A traffic light coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP would also be mathematically possible. However, this is considered unlikely.

The CDU parliamentary group wants to nominate the new president of the state parliament on Tuesday. It is considered likely that incumbent André Kuper will be re-elected head of the state parliament. The 61-year-old has held the highest office in the country since 2017. The new state parliament is constituted on June 1st.