Start coalition negotiations: Who are the 256 politicians?

The talks about a new coalition in Germany are picking up speed! CDU, CSU and SPD have agreed on the formation of 16 working groups that will negotiate the content of a black and red government program in the future. These groups of experts, with a total of 256 members from the federal, state and the European Parliament, start at the CDU headquarters on Thursday. The aim of the negotiations is to define the central points of a coalition agreement in the next ten days, the Kleine Zeitung .

The three parties have already set some key points in explorations, but many questions remain open. The negotiations are headed by party leader such as Friedrich Merz (CDU), Lars Klingbeil and Saskia Esken (SPD) and Markus Söder (CSU). There are also numerous ministers and prime ministers at a table. For the SPD, all ministers of the previous cabinet, apart from Chancellor's Office Head of Wolfgang Schmidt, are represented in the negotiations. It is particularly striking that Chancellor Olaf Scholz did not take part in these talks after he had announced his departure from the formation of the government, as the Zeit

The topics and challenges

An important factor for the success of the coalition negotiations will be a control group that coordinates the work of the specialist AGs. In the groups, the topics of rural areas to health to digital transformation are dealt with. Compared to previous coalition negotiations, such as the traffic light alliance of the SPD, Greens and FDP, only 16 working groups are planned here. At the last talks of the black and red coalition 2018 there were a whopping 200 negotiators in 18 AGS!

In parallel to these negotiations, the Union and the SPD are trying to get an extensive financial package for defense and infrastructure. For this purpose, three changes to the Bundestag are to be brought into the Bundestag on Thursday, whereby the voices of the Greens are required for a necessary two-thirds majority. At the same time, complaints from AfD and Left Party against the procedure in the old legislative period ensure further uncertainties in the political process.