Overview
- The Linke, which won 25.7% in the Abgeordnetenhaus vote, is holding a party congress on Friday to decide if it should invite the Greens and SPD to sondierungsgespräche that could start next week.
- Federal SPD leaders and prominent Greens have demanded concrete measures from the Linke to expel or sanction members tied to antisemitic statements or contacts with organized‑crime figures before they will enter formal talks.
- Pressure increased after revelations that a Neukölln Linke election party hosted a known clan figure and a pro‑Palestinian activist, and after a WhatsApp chat between a Remmo family member and Linke MP Ferat Koçak became public.
- Koçak has withdrawn temporarily from public duties and the Bundestag interior committee, and internal Linke figures including Jan Korte have publicly called for swift party consequences.
- Housing expropriation remains a central bargaining issue, with van Aken saying compensation could be €8–12 billion and SPD and the Berlin Rechnungshof estimating up to €36–42 billion, a gap that raises legal, fiscal and political hurdles for any coalition.