Berlin left-wing coalition: culture minister warns of 'broken axle', talks go on
Culture Minister Weimer, Greens veteran Kretschmann and Nouripour warn against an alliance with Berlin's Left Party. SPD general secretary Klüssendorf hit back as talks continue.
Symbolic image · Photo: Michielverbeek / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped and resized)
A possible coalition of the Left Party, Greens and Social Democrats in Berlin is causing controversy nationwide. Federal Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer, who has no party affiliation, told Bild that Berlin's Left Party was opening the door wide to antisemitism and that a government led by it would be a "broken axle" for the integrity of the Federal Republic. He urged the SPD leadership to stop the alliance.
Criticism also came from the Greens: former Baden-Württemberg premier Winfried Kretschmann told Der Spiegel that working with a party acting openly antisemitic was "completely out of the question." Bundestag Vice President Omid Nouripour told Bild: "I don't think you can hand responsibility to such people." SPD General Secretary Tim Klüssendorf hit back that anyone speculating about the consequences for the federal coalition "has not understood the seriousness of the situation at all."
The dispute centers on an agreement against antisemitism that 120 Left Party politicians publicly criticized; Economy Senator Franziska Giffey of the SPD says a coalition is therefore not justifiable. Left Party lawmaker Dietmar Bartsch accused critics of instrumentalizing the debate. Exploratory talks between the Left, Greens and SPD continued on Sunday and are set to resume Monday, including on rents and housing, dpa reported.