Red-Green-Red | Berlin's Greens drive on red

The state committee of the Berlin Greens votes in favor of coalition negotiations with the Left and the SPD. Photo: dpa/Christophe Gateau "I don't think the state committee has ever been so full," estimates Rania Al-Sahhoum from the state board of the Berlin Greens. She said it on Monday evening, looking into the crowded hall of the Forum Factory. The state committee should decide on coalition negotiations with the Left and the SPD. After about an hour of discussion, he passed it by a vote of 43 to 2. This will be broadcast live on the Internet. Around 300 spectators watched the vote on the screens. There is great nationwide interest in forming a government in Berlin, and the headwind is enormous.

A year before the election on September 20th, Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) had claimed that the Berlin Left was an anti-Semitic party that no one should be allowed to help to power. Until then, Wegner had only argued about the threat of socialization of large private housing stock, which he assured he could not do. But Berliners had already voted for expropriation in a referendum in 2021, so they are not susceptible to scaremongering.

When the CDU replaced Wegner as its top candidate with finance senator Stefan Evers, Evers and his general secretary Lukas Krieger also interpreted solidarity with Palestine as anti-Semitism. On the other hand, at a campaign event on the topic of "Keeping extremists out of power" four days before the election, they didn't say a word about the AfD, even though it had won the state election in Saxony-Anhalt on September 6th with 43.8 percent and was expected to win the state election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on September 20th with 38.2 percent.

"I'm afraid of a fascist government, but I'm not afraid of a progressive one."

"The last three weeks have been really tough," admits Berlin's Green Party leader Werner Graf on Monday evening. He would have liked federal politicians and the media to focus less on Berlin and more on what was happening in Saxony-Anhalt. "I'm afraid of a fascist government, but I'm not afraid of a progressive one," Graf tells his party friends and asks for their consent to coalition negotiations with the Left and the SPD. His suggestion that this coalition wanted to examine a proposal to ban the AfD caused cheers like nothing else that evening. Especially since Berlin's votes in the Bundesrat indicate a majority in favor of a ban proposal.

Former transport senator Bettina Jarasch believes that “the categories have completely slipped” when the CDU quietly helps the AfD gain power in Saxony-Anhalt, but predicts the “end of the world” for Berlin because of red-green-red. Jonas Graeber, who has now worked for the parliamentary group in the House of Representatives for five years, later added that there was a lot of hacking on Die Linke. But in the Reinickendorf and Marzahn-Hellersdorf districts, the CDU is courting the AfD - and the AfD is ultimately "the only definitely anti-Semitic party."

State chairwoman Nina Stahr “doesn’t want to sugarcoat anything.” Some parts of the left actually have an anti-Semitism problem. But there is a joint declaration that prescribes a clear stance on protecting Jewish life in Berlin. A progressive alliance could show in the capital: "If you want things to be better, then you don't have to vote for the AfD." Stahr assures: "We won't let Nazis take our city and this country away from us!"

“It hurts,” says Stahr, as she remembers that the Greens slipped from 18.4 to 14.3 percent in the House of Representatives election. It is their worst result in Berlin in 20 years. This should be evaluated with external help. To say that the election campaign was too left-wing, not enough left-wing or too well-behaved is not enough for the regional association. It should be thoroughly analyzed what the problem really was. The duel between the CDU and the Left probably played a role. That pushed the Greens to the sidelines. They could only attract little attention.

However, they have now been able to negotiate the implementation of many green ideas in the explorations with the Left and the SPD. At least that's how faction leader Graf sees it. He lists: No further construction of the A100 city motorway, no development of Tempelhofer Feld, where the last two aircraft took off at the end of October 2008. To achieve this, there should be more so-called neighborhood blocks - bollards that prevent drivers from taking shortcuts through residential areas. And a packaging tax should be examined. Since Berlin needs 400 million euros more revenue, such a tax could, on the one hand, avoid waste and, on the other hand, put money into the coffers, says Graf. The Left originally wanted to support a packaging tax, but then didn't include the passage in their election program because otherwise the kebab would be too expensive. So this is an originally green idea. But otherwise?

Madlen Ehrlich, district chairwoman in the Mitte district, calculates: Of the 39 points in the exploratory paper, 36 can be found one-to-one in the Left's election program and the Greens have another point in common with the SPD. “I find it difficult to seriously recognize what makes us Greens,” says Ehrlich regretfully. You become similar to the left and therefore invisible. Claudio Struck, also from the Mitte district association, justified his rejection of coalition negotiations with the Left with the words that this would be a “suicide mission with an unpredictable party.” The left is still talking about understanding with Russia. Struck insists on standing on Ukraine's side.

Madlen Ehrlich counters that the large overlaps only show how well the Left, the Greens and the SPD fit together. Things would look completely different in negotiations with the CDU. Vasili Franco, who was unable to defend his seat in the House of Representatives, is of the opinion: "Berlin will get the government that it elected."

But before a coalition agreement can be negotiated, a Left party conference on October 31st must give its blessing. The state executive committee of the Left spoke out in favor of negotiations on Monday evening with one opposing vote. But this is not binding for the party conference. It’s different with the SPD. The decision of the state executive board was sufficient here, and it also decided to start coalition negotiations on Monday evening with three votes against.

If there is a coalition agreement, the Greens want to get members' opinions on it. The request to hold a binding ballot was rejected on Monday evening on the grounds that this would be very bureaucratic and not necessary, since state delegate conferences of the Greens never decide differently than dictated by the opinion obtained. The Left is planning a membership decision on the coalition agreement. For the SPD, a party conference resolution should be sufficient. But the Social Democrats are also demanding a vote from the members, raised by the Lichtenberg district association and by Economics Senator Franziska Giffey.

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