On the way to a new Berlin Senate, the SPD, the Left and the Greens reached an important milestone on Friday.
Their goal: Despite the constant constellation in the state government, there should be new accents.
Berlin - The SPD, the Greens and the Left in Berlin want to start coalition negotiations in the coming week.
This was announced by representatives of the three parties, which have ruled the capital together since 2016, on Friday after a final exploratory meeting.
The basis for the negotiations is to be a paper with 19 guidelines for future cooperation, on which the three parties agreed.
There points such as more housing, a functioning administration, the appointment of teachers, more jobs in the police, more attention to the economy and a "decade of investment" are recorded.
The start of the negotiations is planned for next Wednesday or Thursday, as the SPD chairwoman Franziska Giffey said.
Before that, party committees still have to agree to what is considered certain.
The meetings of the state boards of the SPD and the Left as well as the Green State Committee are planned for Monday.
The negotiators from all three parties had discussed the exploratory paper for more than seven hours.
New in comparison to the line in the previous coalition is the entry into the civil service of teachers in order to meet the teacher shortage.
Temporary video surveillance of streets or squares with a lot of crime is also one of the points on which there was no mutual agreement in the legislative period that is now coming to an end.
In order to limit the rise in rents, according to the exploratory paper, a broad “alliance for new housing and affordable housing” is planned.
It should involve the municipal housing associations as well as the cooperatives and private companies.
The aim is also to generate new impulses for residential construction; according to Giffey, 20,000 new apartments are to be built every year.
After the successful referendum for the expropriation of large housing companies, the SPD, the Greens and the Left want to set up a commission of experts to examine “possibilities, ways and prerequisites for implementation”.
Within a year, the commission, in which the initiators of the referendum should also be represented, should draw up recommendations for the next steps of the Senate.
The issue is one of the most controversial between the three parties.
New accents are planned in transport policy, for example more attention to the expansion of the subway.
According to the Green top candidate Bettina Jarasch, climate protection is defined as a joint task of all Senate administrations, and there is to be a "Climate Council".
For the financing of local public transport (ÖPNV), the parties want to develop a third pillar in addition to the income from tickets and government subsidies.
Details are still open, including the question of whether it might be a city toll.
The controversial extension of Autobahn 100 to Treptower Park is to be brought to a "qualified conclusion with a traffic concept".
Giffey said that the SPD had brought many topics that were particularly important to it into the paper, but that the interests of the other two partners had also been taken into account.
“Everyone was moving a lot,” she said.
It is not about “business as usual”, but about something new.
"I really hope that we can bring the idea of a new beginning to life."
Jarasch was also confident "that we can really make a fresh start and that we can do what we set out to do".
"The next few years will decide in many places the future of Berlin as a whole." Left-wing top candidate Klaus Lederer said: "We will set out to modernize Berlin and counteract the social division in the city."
In the election on September 26, the SPD was the strongest force with a weak 21.4 percent, ahead of the strengthened Greens, CDU, Left, AfD and FDP.
Subsequently, five parties apart from the AfD explored the possibility of forming a government in bilateral formats.
In the past few days, the SPD and the Greens talked in threes with both the Left and the FDP.
also read
Federal government, city and railway check feasibility: Another Elbe bridge
In view of existing route congestion and an expected increase in train traffic, the federal government, the City of Hamburg and Deutsche Bahn are examining the feasibility of building another Elbe bridge over the North Elbe.
The aim is to expand the capacity of the route between Hamburg Central Station and Hamburg-Harburg, said Transport Senator Anjes Tjarks (Greens) on Friday.
Federal government, city and railway check feasibility: Another Elbe bridge
100-day program: CDU wants a fresh start for Berlin
In the event of a victory in the House of Representatives election, the Berlin CDU intends to tackle central projects such as an alliance for affordable housing or the civil service of teachers in the first 100 days.
The CDU top candidate Kai Wegner announced on Friday.
The CDU state chief, who wants to become the new governing mayor, presented his 100-day program under the title “New Start Berlin”.
100-day program: CDU wants a fresh start for Berlin
15 billion budget approved
Brandenburg's state government also decides on a huge budget for 2022 to further cope with the corona pandemic.
The promised exemption from fees for the daycare centers will therefore initially not work.
15 billion budget approved
As recently as the previous week, Giffey had stated that the SPD's preference was a traffic light alliance with the Greens and the FDP.
On Thursday, after evaluating the triple soundings, the SPD leader turned around and stated that her party considered further cooperation with the Greens and the left “to be the most promising path”.
Giffey, who wants to become the governing mayor, was interpreted by critics as a weakness and first defeat.
Before and after the election, the Greens and the Left had made a clear case for continuing the coalition.
dpa
