Overview
- Exploratory Sondierungen between Die Linke, the Greens and the SPD are set to start this week with each party naming formal delegations to negotiate the initial framework for a coalition.
- The SPD has identified a binding agreement on how to respond to antisemitic incidents as the key precondition for a deal and wants clear consequences written into any pact.
- Green lead candidate Werner Graf has ruled out a Left‑Green minority government tolerated by the SPD and insists on forming a stable, majority three‑party coalition.
- Greens and the Left show early convergence on implementing the citizens’ housing referendum to socialise large landlords, and 41 civil‑society groups have pressed negotiators to expand humanitarian protections for migrants.
- If the Sondierungen fail, parties are discussing fallback options that include an SPD–Green coalition with the CDU or the SPD tolerating a Left‑Green minority, and any final coalition contract would require party ratification or membership ballots.