Morning Briefing Podcast: Elections: Left coalition in Berlin is getting closer / Mercedes: Sale of plant to KNDS stalls
The last thing the republic needs: a second firewall. Perhaps the center will succeed in dealing with the left what it has so far failed to do with the AfD. But one hope remains.
Good morning, readers. Following the Berlin Parliament elections, hopes for coalition negotiations between the Left, Greens, and SPD have increased as much as the excitement surrounding them. On Friday, the Left decided to conduct exploratory talks, while the SPD made its move on Saturday. The presence of unresolved anti-Semitic tendencies and potential Clan criminality connections among the Left's supporters is testing the patience of potential partners.
The plans for socializing real estate do not help either. Nevertheless, refusing coalition talks might not be as sensible as it seems. Not because a red-green-red coalition would be desirable, but because the path to it would be instructive. Excluding the Left from the outset would echo the bunker approach to the AfD. The last thing the Republic needs is a second bunker; the first one is already failing.
Even though the AfD and the Left are comparable under various pretenses, Berlin illustrates the dilemma: a democratic center losing votes would preclude the only two winning factions if they focused solely on a possible coalition of CDU, Greens, and SPD.
Written by urgent.news from Handelsblatt's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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