As of: March 26, 2024, 4:36 a.m
By: Christian Deutschländer
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Thuringia's left-wing head of government is loudly promoting an alliance with the BSW and CDU.
This is particularly explosive for the Union.
Will she finally tear down the wall to the left to keep the AfD out of the government?
Munich
– You can understand him and his displeasure.
Since 2020, Bodo Ramelow has been leading a government without a majority in the state parliament, which makes business a tough affair.
There are no big jumps, even the small ones become increasingly difficult.
The left-wing Prime Minister told Table Media that he had “no interest” in another minority government, but also found that an effective government would be possible from autumn “if you have the strength to imagine it”.
Ramelow proposes an alliance between the Left and the CDU and BSW in Thuringia
After the three eastern elections in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg, nothing will be easy, but a lot can be imagined.
In order to keep the AfD, which is doing well in the polls, under control, the other parties will have to come together for better or worse, even those that are worlds apart.
Everyone knows this, Ramelow says it.
His idea: an alliance between the Left Party, Sahra Wagenknecht's BSW - and the CDU.
At least in Thuringia, this is currently the only power option against Björn Höcke's AfD, which was recently at 29 percent, well ahead of the CDU (20) and the Left (16).
In terms of content, this would be a balancing act, but above all from the Union's point of view: a risk.
The incompatibility decision of 2018 prohibits the party from forming coalitions with the AfD and the Left; the conservative Eastern CDU attaches particular importance to double distance.
But what if there is no other way?
Thuringia's Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow in conversation with CDU state chairman Mario Voigt.
© Bodo Schackow/dpa
CDU has to decide - maintains the declaration of incompatibility with the Left
The question is as delicate as it is unavoidable.
The CDU leadership in Berlin also knows this and is reportedly thinking intensively about it - but doesn't want to talk about it.
Officially, Thuringia's CDU doesn't have a dilemma either.
Only recently, top candidate Mario Voigt said that with him there would be no coalition with the left or the right.
Ramelow criticized that again today.
“Whoever makes the equation between the Left and the AfD is demonizing the Left and trivializing the AfD,” he said.
The CDU must decide “whether it wants to stick to its policy of exclusion towards the left”.
A few in the CDU openly agree with him.
The former East Commissioner Marco Wanderwitz called for an opening in January.
The left, he said, had “de-radicalized.”
Shortly afterwards, Thuringia's ex-CDU leader Mike Mohring commented on the incompatibility decision.
He told “Spiegel” that it was “good for our self-assurance, but not a plausible answer” – at least not for Thuringia.
One could argue that Ramelow's left appears more moderate than elsewhere in the country.
There has also been partial cooperation with the CDU for a long time.
The CDU repeatedly supported important decisions made by the red-red-green minority government in order not to produce a standstill.
But the negotiations were often tough.
The 2024 budget, for example, was agreed upon at the last minute - it only passed because the CDU parliamentary group abstained.
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CDU in a bind ahead of eastern elections – Kretschmer clearly differentiates himself
Close on the right, open on the left?
This is also a real problem for the CDU in Saxony.
Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer clearly distances himself from the AfD and the Left and rules out a coalition with both without a back door because he sees extremists at work in both parties.
At the same time, however, there are rumors about the left's possible tolerance of a minority coalition.
This was tried out on a small level a few months ago.
Kretschmer's current coalition of CDU, SPD and Greens elected candidates for committees in the state parliament with the Left and without the AfD.
One person involved said it worked well and that it built trust.
But that was before the BSW spin-off.
The survey situation in Saxony: The CDU is 30 points behind the AfD (34), the SPD, the Greens and the Left are buzzing around the five-point hurdle, BSW is around 10.
In Thuringia, the SPD and the Greens are similarly weak, and a continuation of the coalition is extremely unlikely.
This also means: The CDU will hardly be able to avoid the delicate opening debate.
This also applies to the BSW.
In Thuringia that is 15 percent, and Sahra Wagenknecht recently appeared to be very open to talks with the CDU.
And the Union?
At the end of 2023, party leader Friedrich Merz said: “No one needs this mixture of socialism and nationalism in this country.” Things may be different in the fall.
(Marcus Mäckler/Christian Deutschländer)