Coalition negotiations | “Not at any price”: SPD members against coalition with the Left

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius at the Helsing defense company. The SPD politician is a declared opponent of a red-green-red coalition in Berlin. Photo: dpa/Peter Kneffel Just in time for the start of coalition negotiations for a new red-green-red state government in Berlin, considerable pressure is being exerted on the Berlin SPD. By midday on Monday, 1,078 Social Democrats had signed an open letter entitled “Not at any price” that “strongly” spoke out against a coalition with the Berlin Left. It is said that going into opposition is not a shame. At the same time, the federal SPD is also mobilizing against government participation beyond the public eye.

Among the signatories of the open letter are numerous prominent SPD grandees from the right wing of the party, including ex-Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, who after his political career is making a successful career in the private sector. He is currently on the supervisory board of the defense company Rheinmetall. Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is also one of the signatories, as is the former Federal Health Minister Ulla Schmidt.

According to information from the Tagesspiegel, the letter was initiated in Berlin, but according to an nd analysis, the majority of the signatories do not come from the capital. Only 247 signatures – around 23 percent – ​​come from the Berlin SPD. After all, Berlin Social Democrats are the second most represented in a federal state comparison after the comrades from North Rhine-Westphalia (262 signatures). Prominent Berlin party members include the outgoing Economics Senator Franziska Giffey and the Mayor of Neukölln Martin Hikel.

“We respect the election results in Berlin,” it says at the beginning of the letter, which is titled “Warning SPD members.” “As members of the SPD,” the signatories have “serious doubts” about the ability of the Berlin Left to govern. “These doubts are based on numerous known incidents of anti-Semitism.” Reference is made to the departure from the party of Klaus Lederer and Elke Breitenbach, both of whom represent decidedly pro-Israel positions. They left Die Linke after they were unable to assert their positions on anti-Semitism in the Berlin regional association in 2024.

"As members of the SPD, we have serious doubts as to whether the Berlin regional association of the Left Party is capable of governing."

As further evidence of the anti-Semitism of the Berlin Left, it is stated that after the 2026 House of Representatives election, the Neukölln Left Party Vanessa Emde, who was directly elected to the House of Representatives, was initially accepted into the left-wing faction. The agreement on anti-Semitism previously reached by the Left, the Greens and the SPD in Berlin in preliminary exploratory discussions is therefore “worthless”. Emde is accused of questioning Israel's right to exist. She had stated in several Instagram videos that people, not states, had a right to exist and that the demand for a "democratic one-state solution" with equal rights for all people in the Middle East conflict was legitimate. The open letter explains: "Anti-Semitism must have no place in a democratic government."

In addition to alleged anti-Semitism on the left, the open letter accuses the party of being “close to clan structures.” The Social Democrats rely on the fact that the left-wing Bundestag member Ferat Koçak chatted with the son of Issa Remmo, who is considered the “clan boss”. Koçak had admitted the contact and is currently suspending his public offices. Apart from the conversations with Issa Remmo's son, there are no known further contacts between the Neukölln MP. The open letter nevertheless comes to the conclusion that Koçak maintains contacts with organized crime that are incompatible with the SPD's security policy aspirations.

The signatories rate the affair surrounding an investigation by the news magazine “Spiegel” as no less dramatic. The paper had published content from an internal, not finally edited version of an interview with the Left candidate for Berlin mayor, Elif Eralp. In a note there, Eralp expressed concern for herself and her family if she explicitly commented on Ibrahim Ibrahim. Ibrahim is part of the United Palestinian National Committee (VPNK), which organizes numerous pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Berlin.

Ibrahim was never criminally convicted and, according to information from “Spiegel,” is not considered violent even in security circles. There is also no evidence of contacts with organized crime, according to the magazine. However, he is said to have ideological closeness to the Palestinian PFLP, which is listed as a terrorist organization by both the EU and the USA. The open letter sharply criticizes the fact that Eralp did not want to comment on him: "The erosion of the state's monopoly on enforcement and violence is inevitable."

The letter also criticizes the socialization plans of the Berlin coalition. »Such plans damage the business location far beyond Berlin. There is a risk that there will be no investment from home and abroad.” The signatories also speak out against the intended end of the cooperation agreement between the Berlin Senate and the Bundeswehr. This only gave the German military easier access to schools in the summer of 2026. “The SPD is the party of the turning point,” says the letter. The Bundeswehr is entitled and obliged to provide information and education, especially in schools.

The undersigned Social Democrats do not want to see their intervention as a blanket rejection of coalitions with the left. "Our no goes to the Berlin regional association in its current state, not to the Die Linke party as a whole." But the decision will also have consequences for other election campaigns, they are concerned.

»Open letters also attract attention from former federal ministers from Goslar and Cologne. But that doesn’t replace a political strategy.”

As expected, the reactions of Berlin SPD politicians who are involved in the negotiations with the Left are critical. »Open letters also attract attention from former federal ministers from Goslar and Cologne. “But that doesn’t replace a political strategy,” comments Mathias Schulz on Instagram. Schulz works in the coalition negotiations for the SPD in the working group on urban development. Political responsibility means more than just expressing rejection. It requires developing perspectives. “One thing is clear: in the end, we decide about the future here in Berlin.”

Marcel Hopp goes in a similar direction, criticizing the fact that not even a quarter of the signatories come from Berlin. “Of course everyone is allowed to express their opinion on the question of the coalition in Berlin,” said the newly elected Neukölln SPD representative on Instagram. But the SPD Berlin makes the decision alone, “independently and carefully.” »We don't need unsolicited advice from outside. Thanks!"

Such unsolicited advice from SPD members outside Berlin is unlikely to decrease. Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, for example, supported the open letter's concerns in an interview with ZDF on Sunday and spoke out against a coalition with an "unclear, diffuse party" like the Berlin Left. According to Pistorius, pressure is already being exerted within the party against the red-green-red coalition. »We will definitely talk to everyone at all levels, but not in front of the cameras. “That works too,” he explained.

Ultimately, however, the Berlin regional association must decide. He, in turn, decided a week ago that the Berlin party members should vote on a possible coalition agreement in a member vote. It is difficult to predict how the Berlin SPD might vote. But even when we entered the coalition with the CDU in 2023, the result was extremely close: only 54 percent voted for a coalition back then.

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