The light signals are on the traffic lights - CDU greats bury Armin Laschet's hopes surprisingly quickly.
And Markus Söder ignites a firework of ambiguities.
The SPD, Greens and FDP want to start sounding out traffic lights on Thursday.
Talks in Jamaica are on hold for the time being.
The pressure on Armin Laschet is growing: within minutes, leading CDU and CSU politicians canceled all hopes.
Markus Söder was once again very telling.
He demanded "self-respect" and a feeling for "realities".
The CSU boss did not comment directly on the subject of Laschet, but seemed to suggest a quick change to the CDU.
Berlin / Munich - The observers and the party had expected a month-long tug-of-war - at least the first step was now taken very quickly: the SPD, Greens and FDP want to negotiate a traffic light coalition as early as Thursday (October 7th).
It starts eleven days after the general election.
This is bad news, not least for Armin Laschet: the CDU leader has been clinging to the Jamaica perspective for days.
An open secret is that the loss of the Chancellery should also seal his political end.
Party friends have long since referred an opposition leader Laschet to the realm of fable.
All the more made statements by CDU and CSU leaders sit up and take notice on Wednesday.
And further volts may not be ruled out.
Not even a quick end for Laschet.
Explorations: Laschet's last hope Jamaica passé?
Altmaier and Spahn shoot swan songs at lightning speed
The devil in the Union reactions to the traffic light talks was in the linguistic detail.
Even after the announced traffic light exploratory lightning start, Laschet himself tried to keep the hope of government participation warm.
"The FDP has signaled that there is agreement with the Union on very, very many points," he emphasized for example.
Within minutes and before their own party leader, however, the CDU ministers Altmaier and Spahn shot the alliance, which was potentially career-preserving for Laschet, from the hip with swan songs.
And CSU boss Markus Söder was once again not at a loss for an ambiguous announcement.
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Armin Laschet declares himself in the Düsseldorf state parliament on the status of the explorations.
© Oliver Berg / dpa
Spahn, for example, immediately placed Jamaica in the vacuum of the conjunctive: He found that "participation in government in a Jamaica coalition could have made a real difference for the next few years" - it should be noted that "could have made". “The traffic light train has just left the station,” Altmaier tweeted even more clearly. He added, “We need to do our homework now and show that we have learned the 9/26 lesson. have understood ”- a sentence that could also be understood as a renewed criticism of Laschet.
Söder went one better in this regard.
Reality must now be recognized, he stressed.
One had to get used to the fact that there would very likely be a government without the Union.
But now it is also about "self-respect and dignity" - given the general reluctance of the CDU and CSU to participate in government, this harsh warning could almost only mean Laschet.
It is now the task of the Union to "permanently recognize the realities that result from these decisions," said Söder.
And CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt even called for preparations for the opposition role.
Söder only comments on Laschet between the lines - but harshly: "Dignity", "Realities", end lurking
In the case of the "realities" addressed by Söder, in addition to the now very real exploratory plans of the traffic light parties, it should also be about the mood in the population, which he liked to quote anyway. The “social mission”, if you see the surveys, is also “more likely to go to the traffic lights,” he explained. According to surveys, a traffic light alliance is much more popular than the Jamaica variant. Even less popular, however, is the scenario of a Chancellor Laschet. Söder did not want to support his ex-opponent Laschet: "Questions that concern the CDU must be discussed by the CDU," was his dry statement.
A main question could now be whether the sometimes eminently dissatisfied CDU base Laschet will at least still be able to support or against a traffic light agreement - or whether a revolt in the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus is approaching sooner.
Greens boss Robert Habeck recently hoped for a "single-digit" number of exploratory meetings.
In an interview with the “Tagesschau”, the political scientist Torsten Faas did not expect the traffic light talks to fail - he predicted a “potentially very high price” for a retreating party.
Just the FDP is a burned child on this point after its rejection of the Jamaica coalition in 2017.
The Union knows all of this too.
Lashes after the start of the traffic lights before the end?
CSU does not want a "hanging game" - and indicates the first election campaign spin
But the situation may be even more complex. The Greens and the FDP recently criticized the Union's inability to govern given the internal long-term zoff. Would the situation change if Laschet made room? That doesn't seem unthinkable. But the CDU might have started the race against time too late: it would take at least weeks to finally determine a new party leader. That is how long the FDP could hardly wait - and for the Greens, the traffic light is the declared wishful constellation anyway. In this respect, Laschet could be granted another grace period.
The CSU - in whose ranks some are looking forward to the Bavarian election campaign options of an SPD-led federal government - actually seemed to be preparing for new times on Wednesday.
It makes no sense to bet on a "hanging game" and to lurk in front of the door to see if you will be called in again, said Söder.
Another sentence with a lot of room for interpretation towards Laschet.
The CSU boss even pulled an election campaign spin out of his pocket: When you see which partners would have to work together in red-green-yellow, "I think it will be a very, very huge challenge for our country".
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fn with material from dpa
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