CDU general secretary: Left-led Berlin coalition would strain federal government
Ahead of SPD and Green party votes on Monday, Franziska Hoppermann warned in Welt am Sonntag against a coalition with the Left Party in Berlin's city hall.
Symbolic image · Photo: Michielverbeek / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped and resized)
CDU General Secretary Franziska Hoppermann warned the Social Democrats against an alliance with the Left Party and the Greens in Berlin. "That would be a heavy burden for the coalition at the federal level," she told Welt am Sonntag. She called it "ridiculous" that the parties had needed several meetings to agree on fighting antisemitism.
Hoppermann reaffirmed the CDU's policy of not cooperating with extremists on either the left or the right: "Any cooperation with extremists undermines our core values."
The Left Party, the Greens and the SPD presented a joint exploratory paper on Saturday. The SPD's Berlin leadership and a small Green party convention are due to decide on Monday, the Left Party on Oct. 31. Coalition talks could begin in early November; the alliance would hold 91 seats in the state parliament.