Thuringia's Left leader urges CDU to drop ban on cooperation, floats coalition talks

Maurer's proposal

Thuringia's Left party co-leader Katja Maurer told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur she would have no hesitation in openly presenting a possible coalition with the CDU to voters during a state election campaign. The 35-year-old argued that parties should speak honestly with each other before an election and make public how they could negotiate. She suggested naming three common goals and three red lines, saying she would handle the issue "very offensively."

I think the parties should speak very honestly with each other before the election. And also make public before the election how they can negotiate things with each other.

Maurer also took aim at the CDU's 2018 incompatibility resolution, which bars any cooperation with the Left or the AfD. She called the ban "unaufrichtig" (insincere) given the regular talks between CDU and Left factions in the Thuringian state parliament. "When I meet with Mario Voigt, I always ask: when are you going to submit the motion to end the incompatibility with the Left," she said.

CDU's response

Thuringia's Minister President and CDU state leader Mario Voigt gave a cautious reply. He pointed to the current blackberry coalition of CDU, BSW and SPD, which he said would govern for at least three more years and had already passed three budgets. "There are always one or two talks to be had in the state parliament. Let's start with that," Voigt said. He did not directly address the call to drop the incompatibility resolution.

We have a well-functioning coalition with SPD and BSW for at least three more years. We have already passed three budgets. There are always one or two talks to be had in the state parliament. Let's start with that.

The 2018 resolution was adopted at a CDU federal party conference in Hamburg. Pressure to revise it has grown as several eastern states face difficult parliamentary arithmetic, but the ban remains formally in place.

Thuringia's minority government experience

Both the current Voigt government and the previous Left-led administration have operated without a majority. The Left governed Thuringia for ten years under Bodo Ramelow, first with a red-red-green majority and, after the 2019 state election, as a minority coalition of Left, SPD and Greens that was occasionally outvoted by the opposition. Voigt's blackberry coalition also lacks a majority, creating a stalemate that forces the government to rely on opposition votes, especially from the Left faction. This practical cooperation is what Maurer cited as making the CDU's formal ban appear insincere.

Saxony-Anhalt election looms

The debate over CDU-Left cooperation extends beyond Thuringia. In Saxony-Anhalt, where a new state parliament will be elected on 6 September 2026, CDU top candidate Sven Schulze has ruled out a coalition with the Left but may end up needing its toleration. Political scientist Marcel Lewandowsky told the "Freie Presse" that toleration models leave the Left without responsibility while making the government dependent on it. "Perhaps it would therefore be wiser to form a coalition with an unusual partner than to be tolerated by it," he said.

I assume toleration, because the reservations against a coalition would be too great, even if it could be more sensible in some respects. At the same time, the government is dependent on it. Perhaps it would therefore be wiser to form a coalition with an unusual partner than to be tolerated by it.