It’s done. It took stoppage time over the weekend, but now the coalition is in Berlin. The SPD, the Greens and the Left want to rule Berlin together. Franziska Giffey is the next governing mayor. The three parties are primarily concerned with social equality and climate change. The last thing the three parties agreed on on Sunday was the division of responsibilities. The most surprising result: The Greens get the finance department.
Now the committees still have to give their approval, then the election of the Senate can take place as planned on December 21 in the House of Representatives. The decisive party congresses are planned for December 5th for the SPD and for December 12th for the Greens. The membership decision of the left is to take place from December 3rd to 17th.
The fight against poverty, especially providing the many homeless people with housing, is one of the central goals of the new coalition. The SPD, the Greens and the left want to strengthen the care. The emergencies in hospitals and old people’s homes during the pandemic showed that this is necessary. Working conditions and pay are to be improved. The police get a complaints office. A future police officer should mediate between those affected and the police.
Corona case causes unrest
Housing and renting was one of the key issues in the election campaign. All parties promised to ease the pressure. Now 20,000 apartments are to be built every year. A mark that has not yet been reached. And the issue of expropriating, the majority of Berliners voted on election day to socialize companies that own more than 3,000 apartments, is first being checked for feasibility by a commission of experts.
In addition to new residential construction, there is also the issue of energetic renovation of the existing building, which is an important building block on the way to a more climate-friendly city. Among other things, there should be a funding program for more solar areas on private roofs. Mobility is also part of climate change. There is something for each of the three coalition partners (for example five new subways), but there is apparently no clear goal.
Shortly before the planned conclusion of the coalition negotiations, a corona case caused unrest. After a quick test on Thursday, an employee’s PCR test was also positive, the negotiating group announced on Friday. The PCR tests of all other parties involved had negative results. The coalition negotiations continued nonetheless. According to the parties, they took place under 2G-plus rules from the start: All those involved have been vaccinated against Corona or have recovered and are also testing themselves every day. The evidence was checked daily, it said.