Berlin CDU invites Greens and SPD to talks; both insist it is not coalition probing
Berlin CDU leader Stefan Evers has invited Greens and SPD leaders to talks on Oct. 29. Both accepted but say they are sticking with planned talks with the Left.
Archive image · Photo: Gunnar Klack / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
As the Left Party, Greens and Social Democrats prepare for a possible coalition, Berlin's Christian Democrats are seeking talks with the two smaller partners. State party leader Stefan Evers invited the leaders of the Greens and the SPD to talks, the Tagesspiegel first reported. According to media reports, the meeting is set for Oct. 29, the day the newly elected state parliament holds its first session. The Left was not invited.
Both parties accepted but said the meeting was not exploratory coalition talks. "This is not exploratory talks," said SPD state leader Bettina König. The Greens said the talks concern the "constructive shaping of the transition period" until a new government is formed. A supplementary budget is likely on the agenda, according to dpa. The CDU cited the "worrying course" of the exploratory talks; Evers said his party's hand remained extended for an "alliance of responsibility and reason."
In the Sept. 20 election, the Left came first with 25.7 percent, while the CDU won 18.8 percent. A Left-Greens-SPD alliance would have a comfortable majority, a CDU-Greens-SPD alliance only two seats more than needed. The Left will decide at a party congress on Oct. 31 whether to open coalition negotiations.