The “moment of truth” arrives for the possible tripartite, according to the liberal Wissing
The three potential partners of the future German government, Social Democrats (SPD), Greens and Liberals (FDP) will decide and announce next Friday if they will start negotiations for the formation of a tripartite coalition when they complete a week of polling talks. This was announced at the end of the day of talks on Tuesday by the general secretaries of the three parties, the liberal Volker Wissing, the social democrat Lars Klingbeil and the environmentalist Michael Kellner. All three praised the atmosphere of trust in which the meetings are held, while acknowledging that there are still many points where consensus needs to be reached. “The number of issues we agree on has increased and those that differentiate us have decreased,” Kellner said. “We still have a long way to go, but I’m sure we will overcome all obstacles together,” Klingbeil said, while Wissing warned that this is “a complicated and difficult probing process.”
The three tried to show a certain unity and optimism to the media, but they did not reveal anything at all about the content of the conversations. A pact of silence that aims to avoid outside interference and pressure from the media while the discussions last. This Wednesday and Thursday the dialogue will continue under the direction of the general secretaries and in the absence of the leaders. An official trip to the United States to attend the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund forces the SPD candidate for the Federal Chancellery and current Federal Minister of Finance, Olaf Scholz, to be absent for two days from Berlin. On Friday the three formations headed by their leaders will meet again to debate and probably approve a document prepared by the general secretaries that will cover all the points debated during the polls and that will be the basis of the negotiations for a government coalition.
Volker Wissing referred to next Friday’s day as “the moment of truth”, the moment in which it will be decided whether Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals are capable of joining forces to form a joint government and are willing to seriously negotiate an agreement. coalition. The secretary general of the Liberals was the coldest when conveying his impressions. “We advance step by step” or we must follow “an intelligent and structured process” were some of his brief comments at the press conference on Tuesday. Despite everything, Social Democrats and Greens, who were openly flirting already in the campaign, were happy with the progress made in the three days of meetings so far of the three formations. Proof of the optimism of both is that the Greens have already organized a small federal congress for this Sunday for the party to officially authorize its delegation to start formal coalition negotiations.
The Green Delegation member and Prime Minister of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, Winfried Kretschmann, who has been ruling the richest region in Germany for more than 10 years, gave clues about the issues discussed at the meeting on Tuesday. “Europe, migration and refugee and something else, but I was not at that meeting,” said the veteran environmental leader as he left the Berlin Trade Fair, a neutral ground chosen to celebrate the contacts between the three groups, whose general secretaries met they had limited themselves to commenting that there had been talk of “the great issues” of these times.
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