Berlin: CDU offers itself after coalition talks stall – Left says 'door stays open'

After the Left Party, the Greens and the Social Democrats paused exploratory coalition talks in Berlin, the conservative CDU is presenting itself as an alternative. "Our hand is extended, our door is open," CDU lead candidate Stefan Evers told broadcaster Welt TV on Wednesday. He said he speaks regularly with the leaders of the Greens and SPD and would begin talks once he received a signal they were willing. He acknowledged that "the Left is clearly the strongest force."

The Left Party is pushing to resume talks. "We want to keep talking," parliamentary co-leader Tobias Schulze told dpa. National party leader Ines Schwerdtner told ZDF it was "above all a shame that the Greens and SPD interrupted the talks." "Our door remains open," the Berlin Left had already posted on Instagram on Tuesday evening. Berlin Greens leader Nina Stahr said: "We are still sitting at the table and waiting for the Left Party to come back."

The Greens and SPD suspended the talks on Tuesday evening to check whether an agreement reached the previous week still applies. The trigger was a differing antisemitism declaration adopted by the Left's new parliamentary group; national Greens co-leader Franziska Brantner said: "The Left Party did not stick to the agreement." CSU general secretary Martin Huber said the talks must not merely be paused but broken off. No date for a resumption has been announced.