A month after the parliamentary elections in Germany, a woman, Bärbel Bas, took over the presidency of the new assembly, the Bundestag, on Tuesday 26 October. And under the leadership of the possible future chancellor, the Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, the coalition negotiations are still progressing on Wednesday with the first meetings of the 22 working groups, each of which is working on specific themes. They are trying to develop by the end of November the first joint program on the scale of the country of a coalition that is nicknamed in Germany “traffic light” (Ampelkoalition) with the red color of the SPD, yellow of the Liberals and the green of the ecologists, the Grünen. What would be a first at the federal level already exists in the Land of Rhineland-Palatinate, in the west of the country.
In Mainz, these three political forces have been working together for 5 years and it started again, since last spring, for another five years because this coalition has been renewed. First stop in the office of Social Democrat Sabine Bätzing-Lichtenhäler. “Trust is the most important thing. We negotiate on an equal footing.
“There are no big or small, we are the traffic lights.”
Sabine Bätzing-Lichtenhälerto franceinfo
“Proof, resumes Sabine Bätzing-Lichtenhäler, we all negotiated on a table of the same size in the shape of a triangle where everyone spoke to each other as equals. And you must maintain this throughout your work together.“
Stop on the next floor, that of the Liberals of the FDP and its boss Philipp Fernis. “Everyone has their own space but we discuss everything with each other. We take care of transport policy and the strengthening of justice. The other partners act in areas in which they are particularly strong. For example , the Social Democrats on free education from the age of two and the Greens on climate protection “, he explains.
In this government “traffic light”, after red and yellow, green. Environmentalist Bernhard Braun is full of hope for the future of his country. “This is not just a new coalition, but it could well lead to the opening of a new political spectrum. The three parties negotiating at the moment are closer than what has ever existed in the Federal Republic . And that can also be a chance. Create an exciting spectrum that can bring together ecology, freedom and social justice. And I think we can’t do one without the other. And we can all find our way there “, aspires to the elected ecologist.
What appears to be an almost alliance of opposites is, according to them, a much stronger coalition than the previous ones.
In Germany, the “traffic light” coalition already in place at the level of a Land – The report by Ludovic Piedtenu
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