The Berlin SPD wants its members to vote on the coalition agreement in April if negotiations with the CDU are successful. The party announced this on Monday evening after a state board meeting. The postal voting documents required for this should be sent by post to the members entitled to vote by April 8th. April 21, 11:59 p.m. was set as the deadline for voting. According to the information, all members of the Berlin SPD who were admitted by February 24 are entitled to vote.
According to the SPD, the member’s vote is effective if the majority of those voting have agreed and at least one fifth of those entitled to vote have taken part in the vote. The count is to take place on April 23 and the result will be announced immediately afterwards.
The CDU and SPD want to start their coalition negotiations on Thursday. Then the so-called umbrella group meets for the first time. She uses the working groups that will negotiate the specialist topics from the beginning of next week, as a spokesman for the SPD told the German Press Agency on Monday. 13 groups on various specialist topics are planned. As a rule, eight politicians from both parties are represented in the groups.
The state board of the SPD and the presidium of the CDU decided on Monday who would negotiate in which of the 13 groups and who would lead them. For example, Raed Saleh, head of state for the SPD, takes over the leadership of the working group diversity and integration, for the CDU the district councilor Matthias Steuckardt.
For the topic of home affairs and justice, this is for the CDU the deputy head of state Frank Balzer and for the SPD interior senator Iris Spranger, for economy at the CDU the deputy head of state Manja Schreiner and for the SPD economic secretary Michael Biel. The Urban Development and Building group is headed by Secretary General Stefan Evers for the Christian Democrats and Cansel Kiziltepe, State Secretary in the Federal Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Building for the SPD.
The CDU and SPD have also determined who is represented for their party in the core group of the coalition negotiations. The state chairman Kai Wegner, general secretary Evers and the deputy chairmen Frank Balzer, Manja Schreiner and Falko Liecke negotiate for the CDU in the so-called umbrella group, as a spokesman for the party announced on Monday evening on request. The two state chairmen Franziska Giffey and Raed Saleh as well as the deputy state chairmen Cansel Kiziltepe, Rona Tietje, Ina Czyborra and Kian Niroomand are represented for the SPD, the party announced.
CDU and SPD want to start coalition negotiations on the formation of a black-red state government with a first meeting of the umbrella group on Thursday. It decides to a large extent what ultimately finds its way into the coalition agreement.
The official start of the coalition negotiations is the first meeting of the umbrella group on Thursday. She is the core team of negotiators from both sides, which decisively decides what is considered agreed in which formulations and ultimately ends up in the coalition agreement. The umbrella group is also responsible for organizational planning, i.e. for determining which specialist groups meet when and where.
From the beginning of next week, the working groups will meet regularly during the coalition negotiations, if necessary at the same time. According to previous planning, meetings are planned until March 29th. By then, all groups must be through and forwarded their results to the umbrella group.
But not all of them have the same deadline: According to the information, negotiations on topics such as administration and education, urban development and mobility do not have to be completed until late March, the others earlier. Finally, there is the issue of budget and finances. According to the SPD spokesman, the concluding meeting of the umbrella group is scheduled for the end of March or beginning of April.
The CDU and SPD have until Thursday to prepare for the negotiations. Internal party meetings of the respective specialist teams are planned for this purpose.
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