The CDU triumphs in Berlin and claims that it should therefore nominate the future governing mayor. But Red-Green-Red could continue to govern despite the election debacle suffered. That’s not indecent.
The election in Berlin has a clear winner: the CDU. The red-green-red government has suffered a crushing defeat – and still wants to continue. The CDU thinks that’s a very bad idea and demands that there shouldn’t be a coalition of losers. Your problem: Yes, of course there can be such a coalition.
It has happened several times in Germany that the strongest parliamentary group does not provide the head of government. This is currently the case in Bremen, for example. Red-Green-Red governs there, although the CDU has the most seats in the citizenship. In Hamburg, CDU man Ole von Beust formed an alliance with the FDP and the right-wing Schill party in 2001 and became the first mayor, although the SPD was the strongest force. This has also happened in the federal government – with the SPD chancellors Helmut Schmidt and Willy Brandt.
It is understandable that the CDU is now swinging the moral club and criticizing a sequel to Red-Green-Red in Berlin as indecent. In view of the election debacle, the current coalition members must ask themselves whether they really want to continue as before. Most Berliners are dissatisfied with the work of the Senate.
But in a parliamentary democracy, it is about ensuring majorities and organizing coalitions. Social Democrats, Greens and Leftists will still be able to form a government in the Berlin House of Representatives. As bitter as it is for the CDU, there is a structural left majority in Berlin.
CDU lead candidate Kai Wegner will try to form a coalition with either the Social Democrats or the Greens. But if the SPD can continue to lead the government, why would it want to become a junior partner of the CDU? And as far as the Greens are concerned: the election campaign has made the rifts with the CDU even deeper than they already are. A coalition is unlikely to be mediated in the left-wing Berlin state association of the Greens. And in the CDU, too, enthusiasm for such an alliance should be limited.
Of the three possible coalitions, none are very popular among Berliners – but the previous coalition is the least unpopular constellation. Expressed in figures: according to the pollsters from Infratest dimap, 38 percent of those questioned think that a red-green-red alliance is a “good coalition”. Black-red comes to 30 percent, black-green only 16 percent.
That doesn’t mean that the current coalition has to be the best solution for the capital. While the Greens are particularly strong in the city center, the outskirts are dominated by the CDU. Perhaps black and green would actually be an experiment that would be worthwhile in Berlin. But politics is the art of the feasible.
