Greens leader Banaszak: Berlin left-wing alliance must settle antisemitism dispute first
Greens co-leader Felix Banaszak wished Berlin's planned left-wing coalition success but urged clear agreements in advance, warning it might not last five years. Some party youth members pushed back.
Archive image · Photo: Martin Kraft / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Greens co-leader Felix Banaszak told the national congress of the party's youth wing in Leipzig on Sunday that the Left Party, Greens and SPD must resolve contentious issues before forming a coalition in Berlin. According to dpa, he named the handling of antisemitism and the stance on Israel as the main point of conflict, warning that otherwise the project would not remain stable for five years.
Banaszak wished the prospective partners success. He said the campaign against the Left Party came from the CDU and its orbit, but campaigns only work if they contain a kernel of truth. He said he would have liked the Left Party to acknowledge a problem in its own ranks. According to t-online, he drew strong applause for urging that the concerns of Jewish people be taken seriously. He also cautioned against ruling out cooperation with the CDU altogether, citing Hendrik Wüst and Daniel Günther as conservatives committed to keeping a firewall against the far-right AfD.
Some youth delegates disagreed. Re-elected co-chair Luis Bobga said it was not the youth wing's job to keep the CDU in the democratic center. Party bodies must still decide whether coalition talks begin in Berlin.