Red-red-green coalition

As a red-red-green , red red-green or green-red-red coalition (short red-red-green , red-green-red , green-red-red ; also: R2G ) is called a coalition government consisting of there are two parties with a social-democratic , socialist , democratic-socialist or communist orientation and a green party.

In many cases, the red-red-green attribute chain does not take into account the majority relationships in the relevant regional authority . Strictly speaking, z. For example, the coalition formed in Bremen in 2019 are always called "red-green-red", because the Greens there received more votes than the left in the 2019 general election. Also (as in the case of Thuringia from 2014) the first “red” does not automatically represent the social democratic party in the coalition.

Germany

In Germany , Red-Red-Green is a government coalition between the SPD , Die Linke (and previously the PDS ) and Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen . Such an alliance was formed at the state level for the first time after the state elections in Thuringia in 2014 under Bodo Ramelow (Left Party), after such a model had previously been considered several times in several federal states. In 2019, in addition to the red-red-green state government in Thuringia, there was also such a government in Berlin and, after the general election on May 26, 2019, in Bremen .

A red-red-green alliance was thematically considered in the Erfurt Declaration from 1997.

Cooperation in municipalities

At the municipal level, the SPD, the Left and the Greens have worked closely together since the 2009 elections in Erfurt and govern the city together, but without having entered into a formal coalition. The SPD, the Left and the Greens have also been working together in Saarbrücken since 2009, but within the framework of a fixed coalition, which was also confirmed in the 2014 election. Despite the continued majority for a red-red-green alliance in Saarbrücken, this was replaced in 2019 by a Jamaica coalition of the CDU, the Greens and the FDP. Since 2014, the SPD, the Left and the Greens and two city councilors of the Pirate Party have been working together in the Dresden City Council as an alliance “New Perspectives for Dresden”.

Cooperation in countries

Saxony-Anhalt

From 1994 to 1998 there was a red-green minority government in Saxony-Anhalt ( Cabinet Höppner I ) that was tolerated by the PDS. These minority governments, tolerated by the PDS or the Left Party, are also known as the Magdeburg model , since Höppner initiated this cooperation for the first time in Magdeburg in 1994.

Thuringia

Thuringian Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (center) with his ministers in the Ramelow II cabinet on March 4, 2020.

After the state elections in Thuringia in 2014 , there was a red-red-green coalition (Ramelow I cabinet). Such a coalition had been considered years earlier, including: after the Thuringian state elections in 2009 (see exploratory talks between the SPD, Die Linke and Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen ), the state elections in Saarland in 2009 and the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia in 2010 . After the state election in Thuringia in 2019 , which led to a government crisis, Bodo Ramelow was re-elected in March 2020 ( Ramelow II cabinet ).

Bodo Ramelow was not only the first left-wing prime minister in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany, he was also the first prime minister to lead a red-red-green coalition government.

Berlin

A minority government based on the Magdeburg model also existed in Berlin from 2001 to 2002 ( Senate Wowereit I ).

In the federal state of Berlin , after the election to the House of Representatives in 2006 , the SPD and the Left Party again formed a joint government, which was based on an absolute majority of the votes of the parliamentarians of both parties in the House of Representatives. Leading politicians from Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen said they would not consider a red-red-green coalition - with the result of an enlarged government majority - to be ruled out.

Governing Mayor Michael Müller (r.) With his senators in Senate Müller II on December 8, 2016.

After the Berlin election in 2016 , the first red-red-green coalition under the leadership of the SPD came about on December 8, 2016, see also Senate Müller II . This was continued after the Berlin election in 2021 as a red-green-red coalition, see also Senate Giffey .

Bremen

After the general election in Bremen in 2019 , coalition negotiations between the SPD, Bündnis'90 / Die Grünen and Die Linke took place. These were successful and met with the approval of all three parties. The successful vote on the Senate Bovenschulte in the Bremen citizenship took place on August 15, 2019.

Federal level

As early as 2004 were mainly young and rather left SPD deputy a think tank called "think tank", which dealt from 2008 with the possibilities of opening of the SPD towards the Left Party and maintained contacts with politicians of the left.

2005

After the loss of the red-green majority in the German Bundestag as a result of the 2005 Bundestag elections , a red-red-green alliance would have had an absolute majority of 327 seats. This would make it the coalition of the tightest majority ( minimum winning coalition ), which, according to the older political science coalition theory, was the most likely form of coalition, since a maximum of power could have been achieved with a minimum of officials. Since this also still concerns on the left-right scale neighboring parties, it would also be the minimal connected winning coalition ( minimum connected winning coalition ), the coalition of the scarcest majority ideologically adjacent parties. However, since the SPD, Left Party and Greens made clear coalition statements before the election due to positions that were incompatible in terms of content ( Hartz concept ) , which excluded such a coalition, this coalition variant also fell out of the grid when considering coalition theoretical considerations.

Both in the SPD and in the left, there were sometimes considerable internal party concerns about a corresponding government alliance. In addition, there are personal aversions, especially social democratic politicians, towards leaders of the Left Party, such as the former SPD chairman Oskar Lafontaine . According to party leader Claudia Roth, there were also substantive differences to the left on the part of Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen in 2005 to an extent that alone would make a red-red-green government alliance at the federal level difficult.

In a survey by Infratest dimap on behalf of ARD on August 1, 2005, 28 percent of those questioned stated that the SPD, the Greens and the Left Party should form a red-red-green coalition after the federal election if this were mathematically possible. In the new federal states, 44 percent of those surveyed supported this approach, in contrast to only 24 percent in the old federal states. However, when it came to the question of which coalition was “best for Germany”, the red-red-green coalition ended up in fourth place with only 10 percent behind the red-green (14%), black-yellow (29%) and the grand coalition (39%).

2009

According to the ZDF Politbarometer of August 15, 2008, a red-red-green coalition at federal level was perceived as bad by 67% of Germans and good by 17%.

2013

After the federal election in 2013 , the newly elected group leader of the Greens Göring-Eckardt declared her readiness for red-red-green exploratory talks. In November 2013, during the coalition negotiations with the CDU, the SPD executive board declared its readiness to form future red-red-green coalitions.

2021

For the federal election in 2021 , SPD chairwoman Saskia Esken considered a red-red-green alliance to be “possible and conceivable”. Leading politicians from the Greens and the Left have also expressed their interest in a coalition. In August 2021 (one month before the election), a red-red-green alliance in the ZDF Politbarometer received an approval of 37% and a rejection of 47%, with this coalition option together with a traffic light alliance made up of the SPD, the Greens and the FDP received the highest approval . SPD Chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz and Green Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock never categorically excluded a red-green-red alliance in the election campaign, which caused great excitement in the Union, as the polls had recently predicted a narrow majority for this coalition. In the federal election on September 26th, a red-green-red majority was narrowly missed, this was mainly due to the weakness of the left (4.9%). The SPD was the strongest party with 25.7%, the Greens achieved 14.8%.

Austria

In Austria , red-red-green is a coalition of the SPÖ , KPÖ and the Greens .

Such a constellation is not taken into account at the federal level, as the KPÖ is not represented in the National Council.

At the municipal level, the possibility of a red-red-green cooperation was discussed in Graz in 2003 , the KPÖ achieved an unprecedented success of almost 21% and became the third strongest force, just behind the Social Democrats. Ultimately, Red-Red-Green failed because of the communists. After the municipal council election in Graz in 2021 , a red-red-green coalition was formed under the leadership of Elke Kahr (KPÖ) as mayor.

In Austria, large coalitions or other stable two-party alliances are traditionally preferred to politically unstable three-party coalitions.

France

The government of the Gauche plurielle of Prime Minister Lionel Jospin , which was in office from 1997 to 2002, can be described as a red-red-green coalition. It included members of the Socialist Party , the French Communist Party , the Greens (predecessor of Europe Écologie-Les Verts ) and two other left-wing parties. It was the first French government since the 1960s to remain in office for a full term without a change of prime minister.

Norway

The government coalition under Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg , which existed from 2005 to 2013, was referred to as the “red-green government”, and by the German media also as red-red-green. In this context, “green” does not mean the Norwegian small party Miljøpartiet De Grønne (member of the European Green Party ), which was not represented in parliament, but the Center Party , which also has an ecological focus .

Broadcast reports

• Henry Bernhard: Prime Minister election in Thuringia - test for red-red-green , Deutschlandfunk - " Background " from December 4, 2014

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jan Sternberg: The capital city politics is rearranged . In: Märkische Allgemeine . 71st year, no. 222 , November 21, 2016.
2. ↑ Klaus Wuggazer: Red-Red-Green is moving closer together in the Erfurt city council. In: Thuringian General . October 10, 2012, accessed June 18, 2015 . 
3. ↑ SPD wants to continue red-red-green in the Saarbrücken city council. In: Focus Online . May 26, 2014, accessed February 13, 2016 . 
4. ↑ Sr.de: Jamaica in Saarbrücken. September 30, 2019. Retrieved October 12, 2018 . 
5. ^ Cooperation agreement LINKE / GRÜNE / SPD: New perspectives for Dresden. September 17, 2014, accessed September 12, 2019 . 
6. ↑ Ulrich Schulte: Renate Künast: "The cucumber in the tomato salad". In: the daily newspaper . July 24, 2006, accessed June 18, 2015 . 
7. ↑ The red-green-red government in Bremen is in place. Bovenschulte: Nationwide signaling effect from the Bremen coalition questionable. In: Weser courier. July 23, 2019, accessed July 23, 2019 . 
8. ↑ Paul Starzmann: # R2G: Why red-red-green is more than a phantom . vorwaerts.de . December 30, 2016, accessed June 25, 2019
9. ↑ Play with the dirty kids? (tagesschau.de archive)
10. ↑ Heinrich Pehle, Roland Sturm : The Second Grand Coalition: Government of "New Possibilities"? In this. (Ed.): Ways out of the crisis? The agenda of the second grand coalition , society. Business. Politics. GWP. Social sciences for political education, special edition 2006, Verlag Barbara Budrich, ISBN 3-86649-002-X
11. ↑ Björn Hengst, Lars Langenau: Coalitions: Chancellor by Oskar's grace? In: Spiegel Online . September 14, 2005, accessed June 18, 2015 . 
12. ↑ Roth: Red-red-green coalition is taboo . In: Berliner Zeitung , July 15, 2005
13. ↑ ARD DeutschlandTREND July IV 2005 IV extra, survey period: 26 to 27 July 2005. (No longer available online.) Infratest dimap, August 2005, archived from the original on June 19, 2015 ; Retrieved June 18, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
14. ↑ ARD-DeutschlandTREND August 2005. Survey on the political mood on behalf of the ARD Tagesthemen and ten daily newspapers. (PDF) Infratest dimap, August 2005, archived from the original on September 27, 2007 ; Retrieved June 18, 2015 . 
15. ↑ Politbarometer - Opinion on the red-red-green coalition
16. ↑ Göring-Eckardt ready to talk about red-red-green - no chance . bild.de, October 12, 2013
17. ↑ SPD -spitze sees red-red-green as an option in the future. In: time online . November 12, 2013, accessed June 18, 2015 . 
18. ↑ Constanze von Bullion, Boris Herrmann, Mike Szymanski: Bundestag election: The coalition option red-red-green. Retrieved September 4, 2021 . 
19. ↑ Projection: Union and SPD on par. In: ZDF. August 27, 2021, accessed September 4, 2021 . 
20. ^ Graz: Last chance for red-red-green. In: derstandard.at. February 28, 2003, accessed August 9, 2016 . 
21. ^ Klaus Höfler: KPÖ: "Njet" for red-red-green in Graz. In: The press. March 4, 2003, accessed August 9, 2016 . 
22. ↑ Reinhard Wolf: In Norway, red-red-green rules. In: the daily newspaper . October 15, 2005, accessed June 18, 2015 .