Berlin Twenty minutes later than announced, the party leaders appeared in front of the camera – and were gone ten minutes later. The Greens bosses Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck as well as FDP boss Christian Lindner spoke of “good talks” between the two parties, which explored a possible alliance for the second time on Friday.
“The process started in a good atmosphere, but it is not over,” said Lindner. There will be more meetings. When, the three left open – as well as which topics were discussed. “2017 should not be repeated,” said Baerbock, referring to the failed Jamaica soundings four years ago, during which “small water level reports” were made public.
“We feel we have been asked to organize a new departure,” said Lindner after the four-hour consultation. The task now is to find out how the divisions can be overcome. Green party leader Habeck described the discussion as “factual”. Both parties stand for change, but not necessarily for the same change.
Baerbock spoke of a historic moment “in our country” because a new alliance presupposes a policy “that is not geared towards the lowest common denominator”, but ensures a real departure, for a real renewal in this society, especially among them big future tasks.
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On Tuesday evening, the two smaller possible coalition partners met for an initial meeting. This Friday, the Greens and FDP competed with a team of ten.
The second round of so-called preliminary explorations should focus more specifically on the content and goals of a possible future coalition.
The CSU previously announced its readiness for exploratory talks with the aim of a Jamaica coalition of the Union, Greens and FDP. “We as the CSU want to do everything we can to ensure that the opportunity that exists is used,” said CSU General Secretary Markus Blume after a presidium meeting of his party in Munich. On Sunday, the Greens and the FDP will each consult with the SPD, the FDP will also meet the Union for negotiations.
Robert Habeck: “Good start on the way to forming a new government”
Meanwhile, SPD chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz again campaigned for the alliance he is striving for with the Greens and the FDP. “I am optimistic that a traffic light coalition can succeed,” said Scholz to the “Spiegel”. The Germans would have made the SPD, Greens and FDP stronger with their votes. “This is a message to these three that we can now get this done and form a government together.”
Scholz emphasized the need “that the parties talk to each other on an equal footing and that everyone can find each other in the coalition agreement”. “Anyone who wants to form a government together must have trust in one another. Because later we will have to solve many tasks that were not even foreseeable during the coalition negotiations. “
Greens expect difficult negotiations
The Green parliamentary group leader Katrin Göring-Eckardt expects tough negotiations. Nobody should pretend “as if we were already throwing cotton balls at each other,” said Göring-Eckardt on Thursday in the ZDF program “Maybrit Illner” and added: “These will be tough negotiations.”
The group leader expects difficult discussions, for example in climate policy. She referred to the negotiations on the carbon price. “Those were the most blatant negotiations and the one who stood in the way of being ambitious was Olaf Scholz.”
In an interview with Handelsblatt, the Green Vice-President Jamila Schäfer advocated not excluding topics in the talks where the greatest differences exist between the Greens, the FDP and the SPD. “We also have to talk about the more difficult points in order to build mutual trust,” said Schäfer.
It is “a challenge in terms of content to make progress with the FDP, but also the SPD”, for example with climate protection. “The SPD has to leave it behind, playing off climate protection and social justice against each other,” she said. The FDP is buying it from having recognized the urgency of the issue. The problem is that the liberals have not backed this urgency with their measures.
FDP parliamentary group vice Michael Theurer sees it as a priority task in the talks to form a government to look for common ground. “It’s not about emphasizing the differences between the parties in individual positions,” said Theurer of the German press agency. “Because you need a stable government.” Theurer is part of the negotiating team of the FDP.
More: The exploratory timetable is: Who speaks to whom, when, at the traffic lights or Jamaica