The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Greens announced on Tuesday afternoon that they are halting their contacts with The Left for the formation of a tripartite government in the city-state of Berlin. The decision comes just a week after the three forces reached a preliminary understanding to explore a coalition, in which the most voted party in the mid-September elections agreed to cooperate in the fight against antisemitism.
"We have taken note that The Left has reached other agreements within its parliamentary group. This means that, at this moment, we must interrupt the exploratory talks to assess whether our agreement from last week is still valid," the two parties stated in a joint statement reported by the German public television network ZDF.
In that joint text, SPD and the Greens emphasize that, from now on, they await The Left to "clarify to what extent it intends to assume and apply the agreements reached," after last Thursday the three parties committed to combating antisemitism and recognizing Israel's right to exist as "non-negotiable." These conditions had been set as central elements by the social democrats and ecologists to continue coalition talks.
The Left won the elections held on September 20 with 25.7% of the votes, ahead of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who had held the government of the city-state until then. An eventual coalition pact with the Greens and the SPD would pave the way for their candidate, Elif Eralp, to become the first mayor of Berlin from The Left, although the accusations of alleged antisemitism against this party — critical of Israel's policies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip — have complicated the negotiation process.
The controversy escalated after an Arab-origin clan leader — allegedly linked to organized crime — and a pro-Palestinian activist suspected of having ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), an organization considered terrorist by the European Union, attended a celebration on election night in the Berlin neighborhood of Neukölln.