The major German parties have added the populist or radical left to their alliances to reinforce the cordon sanitaire against the extreme right. In the investiture, in recent days, of the new governments of Thuringia, Brandenburg and Saxony, the new party of the self-proclaimed “conservative left” Sahra Wagenkencht and the post-communist left of Die Linke participate more or less directly. The votes of this formation have allowed this Wednesday to support a minority Executive in Saxony, the last of the state who voted in the fall to form a Government.
The objective of these alliances, some of which a few months ago would have seemed against nature, is to keep the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) away from power. If the legislative elections, scheduled for February, were held today, this party would be the second most voted in the entire country, according to polls.
The current president of Saxony, the Christian Democrat Michael Kretschmer, was sworn into office again this Wednesday with the votes of his own party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) of Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Both will govern together, but as a minority. In the second round of the investiture vote they had the support of Die Linke. Wagenknecht’s deputies could also help him to build legislative majorities.
The presidents of Thuringia, the Christian Democrat Mario Voigt, and of Brandenburg, the Social Democrat Dietmar Woidke, were inaugurated last week. Both, with novel coalitions, as they include the Sahra Wagenkencht Alliance (BSW, by its German acronym), a left-wing formation in social matters, conservative on immigration and accused, like the AfD, of playing into Russia’s hands.
The three elections held in September in federal states of the former East Germany were a success for the AfD, a nationalist and eurosceptic party under the scrutiny of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the internal intelligence services. AfD was the party with the most votes in Thuringia, with 32.8% of the vote and ten points ahead of second place, the CDU. And it came second in Saxony, behind the CDU, and in Brandenburg, behind the SPD.
Germans are used to building coalition governments and weaving cordons sanitaire. But the strength of the extreme right, which has a third or more of seats in the three regional parliaments, demands more seats and parties to form governments. And the emergence of the BSW a year ago has complicated everything even more.
Previously, it was enough for the traditional parties – those that occupy the broad spectrum that goes from the center-left to the moderate right – to agree among themselves to compose majorities. Now it’s not so easy. In Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg the consequence of the reconfiguration of the political landscape has been evident, and SPD and CDU have had no choice but to expand the anti-AfD front by adding Die Linke or Wagenknecht’s party to it.
The big parties have been forced to put aside some taboos. The Christian Democrats established at a congress in 2018: “The CDU in Germany rejects coalitions or similar forms of collaboration with both the Die Linke party and the Alternative for Germany.”
The call firewall (as the cordon sanitaire is known in Germany) continues to apply to the AfD, and Friedrich Merz, Christian Democrat candidate for the chancellorship in the February elections, has promised to continue applying it. Instead, alliances in eastern Germany indicate that it no longer applies to Die Linke. This party, founded by the heirs of the party of the communist regime of the German Democratic Republic and by dissidents from the left of the SPD, will be decisive for the stability of the governments led by the CDU in Thuringia and Saxony. And in Thuringia, a tripartite coalition formed by the CDU, the SPD and the BSW, the party of Wagenkencht, former leader of Die Linke, will govern.
The formation of these governments has required weeks of negotiations. One of the points of friction, paradoxically, is not the responsibility of the federated states: war. Wagenknecht had conditioned his party’s participation in government coalitions – and, therefore, the possibility of stopping the extreme right – on the recognition of his positions against the delivery of weapons to Ukraine and the installation of US missiles on German soil. , and in favor of negotiations with Russia.
In Brandenburg the coalition is formed by the Social Democrats of Scholz and those of Wagenknecht. And in the SPD there is a current, especially established in the East, close to Wagenknecht’s positions. It is not surprising that the agreement was simpler there and that in the coalition contract phrases are read that would scare some European partners if they were official German positions, such as: “The war will not end through more arms deliveries.” Or: “Diplomatic efforts for peace must also aim at the normalization of economic relations.” [con Rusia]”.
The agreement in Thuringia was more complicated, as it includes three parties and the first of them is the CDU, historically more Atlanticist than the SPD and in favor of strengthening aid to Ukraine beyond what was decided by Chancellor Scholz. In the coalition contract, the three signatories admit that “regarding the need to deliver weapons to Ukraine to defend its territorial integrity and sovereignty, the points of view are different.” Or they say: “We recognize that many people in Thuringia are critical of or reject the planned stationing of medium-range and hypersonic missiles.” A sophisticated formula to keep everyone happy. German consensus at its finest.
