Coalition negotiations between the SPD, FDP and the Greens: This is how the traffic lights work now

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General Secretaries Wissing, Klingbeil, Federal Managing Director Kellner

Photo: Christof Stache / AFP

The coalition negotiations between the SPD, FDP and the Greens begin where the exploratory talks left off: deep in the west of Berlin, on the exhibition grounds, in »hub27«.

This is a new functional building that doesn't pretend to be anything other than a new functional building.

Greens managing director Michael Kellner, SPD general secretary Lars Klingbeil and FDP colleague Volker Wissing set the schedule at the beginning.

"We're all looking forward to it, the mood is good," says Klingbeil.

You have turned the screw a little again: If the negotiators originally wanted to form a government by Christmas, they now want to elect Olaf Scholz as Chancellor during St. Nicholas Week.

That is ambitious.

Finally, the three parties have formed 22 working groups to work out the coalition agreement.

The fine-tuning has not yet started this Thursday.

The AG management and the main negotiators have come together to get to know each other.

"We want the way in which we deal with each other in the negotiation round to be carried over to a larger group, namely the heads of the working groups," emphasized Wissing at the press conference.

A total of around 100 politicians sit together in the »hub27« on this day.

What's next?

The working groups should meet from next Wednesday.

Four to six negotiators per party fight for the content on the basis of the exploratory results.

You should work out papers by November 10th, and any disputed points should then be clarified in the main round of negotiations.

However, according to Klingbeil, the working groups have been given the "clear mandate" to regulate conflict issues in the groups themselves.

"We want as few or no parentheses as possible, which have to be clarified in the main negotiating round," he said.

Despite the tight schedule, the negotiations should not take place on the weekend and there should be no night meetings.

It seems very questionable whether this can be sustained.

The papers should not be too long, according to SPIEGEL information, three pages per working group are a guideline.

The coalition agreement should then be in place by the end of November.

The main negotiating groups each consist of seven politicians, including the party leaders in these rounds.

In the end, according to Klingbeil, you should “take over the final editing and clarification of any remaining areas of conflict”.

Wissing said they had reserved "a lot of time in a compressed phase" so as not to discuss the areas of conflict "in endless night meetings".

The Greens will vote in a digital ballot on the coalition agreement, the FDP will convene a special party conference.

The SPD would like to discuss on Monday in the party executive and presidium how they want to vote on the coalition agreement.

What is important to the parties?

The three parties have already set out the guidelines, including those on major areas of conflict, in their 12-page exploratory paper.

• The Greens have put emphasis on climate protection in particular: the phase-out of coal should "ideally" be brought forward, there should be compulsory solar power for commercial roofs and two percent of the country's area should be made available for wind power.

• The FDP was able to prevent some plans by the Greens and the SPD: There will be no tax increases, no speed limit and no citizens' insurance, but entry into a funded pension.

• For the SPD, the minimum wage and the stabilization of the pension level at 48 percent were particularly important, both of which are in the paper.

Left-wing politicians from the SPD and the Greens in particular have already called for re-sharpening.

Andreas Audretsch, Member of the Green Party in Berlin, said at his party's small congress last Sunday that improvements were needed, especially for tenants.

If they didn't manage to do that, the Greens would lose "everything" they had built up in the city centers "until the next election," shouted Audretsch into the hall.

Juso boss Jessica Rosenthal told the "Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung" that she expected the traffic light coalition Hartz IV to overcome "with higher standard rates and a guaranteed subsistence level."

It became clear again this Thursday that the negotiators want to bring the coalition talks to a successful conclusion.