Coalition in place

Wagenknecht party also joins government in Brandenburg

Sarah Wagenknecht can soon look forward to two government participations in eastern Germany.(Bild: APA/AFP/John MACDOUGALL)

After Thuringia, another federal state in eastern Germany will now also have a government in which the Sarah Wagenknecht alliance is involved. With its help, the current Minister President Dietmar Woidke (SPD) will be able to save his office.

In the first week of December, SPD and BSW party conferences are to make a final decision on the agreement, which will be presented later today (Wednesday). Woidke could then be re-elected and sworn in as Minister President in the state parliament on December 11. BSW MP Sven Hornauf had previously jeopardized the talks. He threatened not to vote for Woidke in the state parliament due to criticism of the deployment of the Arrow 3 missile defense system at the Holzdorf airbase by the federal government.

Dietmar Woidke could be re-elected as Minister President of Brandenburg as early as December 11.(Bild: APA/AFP/Odd ANDERSEN)

Sarah Wagenknecht can soon look forward to two government participations in eastern Germany.(Bild: APA/AFP/John MACDOUGALL)

Narrow government majority in the state parliament
BSW state leader Robert Crumbach has now assured the coalition partner that the majority is in place - even if it is unclear how Hornauf will vote. The alliance would have a majority of two votes in the state parliament, i.e. only one vote without Hornauf.

The SPD and BSW have already announced that bureaucracy reduction and digitalization will be the focus of a joint coalition. It is also certain that they want to continue to relieve parents with lower incomes from paying childcare fees. In the exploratory paper, both sides have already agreed that they want to work towards a diplomatic solution to the war in Ukraine at federal level and in the EU. Reference is made to the consequences of sanctions.

The movement, which had split from the left, had linked government cooperation to these points. Only a coalition of SPD and BSW has a realistic majority in the state parliament because no party wants to form a coalition with the right-wing AfD.