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Mona Neubaur and Hendrik Wüst: Could soon rule together
Photo: IMAGO/Piero Nigro / aal.photo / IMAGO/aal.photo
Almost two weeks after the state elections, the CDU and the Greens in North Rhine-Westphalia ended their exploratory talks.
Both sides decided to recommend their members to start coalition negotiations, as the parties, led by the top candidates Hendrik Wüst (CDU) and Mona Neubaur (Greens), announced on Friday evening in Düsseldorf.
Finally, on Friday evening, delegations from both parties agreed on a very detailed twelve-page results paper.
It bears the heading »For the future of North Rhine-Westphalia«.
Wüst: »A new alliance is an opportunity for North Rhine-Westphalia«
On the basis of the key points, the top committees of the CDU and Greens are to decide on the official start of coalition negotiations on Sunday.
So far, the two parties have never governed together in the most populous federal state.
"The CDU takes its responsibility from the result of the state election to form a stable government for our country," said Wüst after the end of the soundings.
»A new alliance is an opportunity for North Rhine-Westphalia.
I would like to thank the Greens for constructive, serious advice that is appropriate to the challenges.«
"After about a week of good and intensive discussions, we were able to work out a resilient basis together," said Neubaur.
»Both parties are united by the serious will to find generation-fair solutions for the challenges of the present and future in times of multiple crises.«
Early exit from coal and additional teachers
In the exploratory paper, the CDU and the Greens commit themselves to a climate-neutral industrialized country.
"We will make North Rhine-Westphalia the first climate-neutral industrial region in Europe." The parties want to launch an "immediate climate protection program and an early phase-out of coal by 2030." In the education sector, 10,000 additional teachers are to be hired in the coming years.
With a binding step-by-step plan, the starting salary for all teachers is also to be raised to A13.
Around 100 delegates from the Greens are coming together in Essen on Sunday for a small party conference to vote on the start of coalition negotiations.
In Düsseldorf, the similarly sized extended state executive committee of the CDU will decide on this.
The CDU clearly won the election on May 15 with 35.7 percent.
With 26.7 percent, the SPD slipped to its worst result in a state election in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The Greens were able to almost triple their share of the vote compared to 2017 to 18.2 percent and ended up in third place.
bbr/dpa/AFP
