Berlin Linke postpones party congress to 31 October as coalition talks drag on
The Berlin Linke has moved its party congress, which was to vote on opening coalition negotiations on Friday, 16 October, to 31 October. The same day, Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged the SPD and the Greens to end their talks with the Linke.
Congress pushed back as talks drag on
The Berlin Linke has moved its party congress from Friday, 16 October, to 31 October. State managing director Bjoern Tielebein informed members on Monday, 12 October, that the exploratory talks with the SPD and the Greens are still going and that it is unclear when they will end. The congress was to discuss a finished exploratory paper and vote on opening coalition negotiations, but party statutes require delegates to receive the paper 72 hours in advance, which would have meant Tuesday evening, 13 October. The autumn holidays in Berlin, running from 19 to 31 October, were also a factor, and finishing the talks by Tuesday is considered unlikely. The Greens also planned a party congress for Friday, which is to go ahead only if the three parties reach agreement by then.
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- Originally planned Linke congress date, now postponed
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Merz urges the SPD to end the talks
Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who also chairs the CDU, called on the SPD and the Greens to end the talks with 'this left-radical party' immediately. He described the situation in Berlin as a process without precedent and said a majority with the CDU in the Berlin House of Representatives could enable a stable government. Merz said the Berlin Linke was 'particularly extreme and radical' and that antisemitism in its parliamentary group could not be talked away. In a statement he added:
I hope that the SPD comes to its senses.
Merz also warned that a coalition of the SPD and Greens with the Linke in Berlin would be a 'great burden' for cooperation at federal level, calling the federal coalition with the SPD into question. The Linke had become by far the strongest party in the election to the Berlin House of Representatives on 20 September.
Housing and security split the trio
On the fifth day of talks, the three parties were expected to take up transport, climate protection, social cohesion and rents and housing. Rents and housing is the sharpest dispute, as SPD state chair Steffen Krach rejects the goal of the Linke and the Greens to socialise large housing companies, while Linke co-state chair Maximilian Schirmer told RBB:
If the Left governs, then socialisation must also happen.
Krach has pressed on internal security, saying whoever runs the interior administration must strengthen the police and the Verfassungsschutz, which he called 'a basic condition'. Schirmer maintains that the Verfassungsschutz in its current form does not work, even though the three parties' antisemitism pact commits them to strengthen both in protecting Jewish life in Berlin. An empty state treasury makes financing election promises harder, with looming gaps in the billions. Schirmer said the negotiators wanted to take the time they need, so whether a decision comes by Friday remains open.
A dispute inside the Linke
Linke federal chair Luigi Pantisano said on Monday that 'freedom of expression' allows members to deviate from party decisions. At the constituent session of the Berlin Linke parliamentary group on Tuesday, 13 October, members are to decide whether Vanessa Emde, a Neukölln member of the House of Representatives, joins the group. Emde rejects the right of states to exist, which contradicts the party's commitment to Israel's right to exist, a commitment also in the pre-exploration paper, and the SPD has informally demanded she not join. On Friday, 9 October, Bundestag member Tamara Mazzi published an open letter signed by about 120 Linke politicians, criticising the paper for letting the SPD and Greens bring 'disciplining and splitting mechanisms from outside' into the party. Eighteen of the 64 Linke Bundestag members signed it, and eight of the signatories sit on the federal executive, all from western Germany. Dietmar Bartsch said it was 'no coincidence' that the signatories were mainly people who had never conducted coalition negotiations and came almost entirely from the West. The three parties presented their antisemitism agreement on Thursday, 8 October, which commits them to Israel's right to exist and threatens exclusion for violations.
