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Franziska Giffey (left) with the Green top candidate Bettina Jarasch and Left top candidate Klaus Lederer
Photo: Carsten Koall / dpa
Two months after the parliamentary elections in Berlin, the SPD, the Greens and the Left have agreed on a coalition agreement in the capital.
There was "a political agreement on all open points in the coalition agreement for the formation of a new Berlin state government," said Franziska Giffey, the SPD state chief and designated governing mayor, on Sunday.
After “final editing work on the text”, the party and parliamentary group leaders want to present the document to the public on Monday.
After the agreement, Giffey said he was “relieved” and thanked everyone “who worked, organized, prepared and fought for the best political path for Berlin”.
"On this basis, we will use all of our strengths for good government work for Berlin," she said.
Giffey's SPD had clearly won the election on September 26th, ahead of the Greens and the CDU, while the Left came fourth.
The SPD then sounded out with the CDU and FDP, but ultimately spoke out in favor of a new version of the alliance with the Greens and Leftists.
Now Giffey could be elected head of government before Christmas.
Expansion of local transport, appointment of teachers
The 43-year-old is said to succeed her party colleague Michael Müller, who has been the governing mayor since the end of 2014.
He took over a red-black coalition from his predecessor Klaus Wowereit, ruled with a red-red-green alliance since the 2016 election and was elected to the Bundestag on September 26th.
Giffey's SPD top candidate in Berlin was controversial after an affair about plagiarism in her doctoral thesis.
The Free University of Berlin ultimately revoked the politician's title last June after a long process.
She had previously resigned as Federal Family Minister because of the plagiarism allegations.
In their coalition negotiations, the parties have now agreed, among other things, on the expansion of local public transport in Berlin, measures for more safety in the capital and the appointment of teachers to civil service.
They also set the goal of building at least 200,000 new affordable apartments by 2030.
The sticking point of the referendum
A sticking point in the talks was how to deal with the referendum on the nationalization of apartments by large corporations, which had taken place at the same time as the House of Representatives election.
The SPD is rather negative about the project, while the Left expressly supports it.
A majority of Berliners of 56.4 percent voted on September 26 for the referendum »Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co.«, 39 percent voted against.
The minimum quorum was also achieved;
the referendum is therefore considered to have been adopted.
On this point, the coalition parties agreed to set up a commission of experts to implement the referendum.
The new government "respect the result of the referendum" and will "handle it responsibly," it said a few days ago in a joint declaration by the parties on the subject.
asa / AFP
