Coalition of four

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A four-party coalition is the temporary parliamentary association of four parties to form and support a government or in the opposition . Since the partners represent different political currents, an agreement is reached on a common denominator.

Coalition of four in Bavaria

In Bavarian political history, the period of government under the Social Democratic Prime Minister Wilhelm Hoegner is referred to as a coalition of four . Four parties, the SPD , the Bayernpartei , the FDP and the GB / BHE , supported his government from 1954 to 1957.

The state election of November 28, 1954 brought the SPD , which had previously ruled together with the CSU , a share of the vote of 28.1 percent and the CSU was still the strongest party with 38 percent, but the SPD state chairman Waldemar von Knoeringen forged in talks with the smaller parties under the motto "Light for Bavaria" in the Maximilianeum a majority against the CSU. Although the ruling parties represented very different political directions, the coup succeeded. On December 14, 1954, the Hoegner cabinet was sworn in.

In addition to anger over the CSU arrogance of power, the coalitionists were united by their dissatisfaction with education policy in the Free State. The teacher training should be withdrawn from the previous influence of the church, which the CSU - due to internal contradictions - adamantly rejected for years.

In the end, the Hoegner government should fail to achieve its intended goal. In return, she impressed with other achievements during the duration of the coalition of four:

The coalition of four was sharply criticized by the CSU. The Federal Minister of Economics Ludwig Erhard , politically at home in Fürth, railed at the time about a "foreign coup government" and "unnatural fornication".

After a few months, cabinet members of the Bavarian Party got into the wrong light in the ominous casino affair. On April 21, 1955, the Bavarian state parliament approved the granting of concessions to private individuals to operate casinos . Interior Minister August Geislhöringer (Bavaria Party) went to work cheerfully. Money is said to have flowed in the implementation of the licensing, but corresponding evidence turned out to be falsified in the investigation a few years later. According to an article in the tabloid press , allegations of bribery in connection with the concession for the Bad Kissinger casino should be investigated. Alois Hundhammer (CSU) acted as chairman of the investigation committee to clarify the events surrounding high government members of the coalition of four (in addition to the interior minister and the deputy prime minister Joseph Baumgartner ). The committee of inquiry did not find anything. The state government emphasized the realization that the politically responsible minister was not guilty of anything and successfully filed criminal charges against defamers.

The CSU succeeded in the following years with cabal to detach the Bavarian party from the coalition of four. The BP succumbed to the temptations of the conservatives, and the scandal surrounding the Bavarian casinos (the Bavarian party had a reputation for corruption because of the licensing) brought the coalition into moral disrepute.

The GB / BHE came before the BP. Its parliamentary group chairman, Walter Becher , had already agreed on a coalition with CSU chairman Hanns Seidel and on October 8, 1957, announced that the GB / BHE would leave the coalition and their ministers would resign. Prime Minister Hoegner resigned that evening, and eight days later Hanns Seidel (CSU) succeeded him at the head of a coalition government made up of the CSU, FDP and GB / BHE. The SPD and the Bavarian Party went into opposition. Under changed political circumstances, the previously approved concessions have now become an issue again.

Coalition of four in the Czech Republic

In the Czech Republic, there was a four-way coalition of opposition parties from 1998 to 2002 . This coalition of four was formed as a reaction to the ruling alliance of social democrats (ČSSD) and the Democratic Citizens' Party (ODS). It included the medium-sized and small center-right parties KDU-ČSL , US , DEU and ODA .

Before the Senate elections in September 1998, these parties agreed on an alliance of convenience because they wanted to prevent a constitutional majority of ODS and ČSSD in this chamber. Over time, this cooperation flourished, not least because of the good election results for the upper chamber in 1998 and 2000 and the elections to the parliaments of the regions in November 2000.

Despite considerable tensions and conflicts within the coalition of four, the group was able to prove itself as a parliamentary opposition for more than three years. Then there was a split in 2001. The unresolved financial situation of ODA was a thorn in the side of the Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL). Allianz had been hopelessly in debt with 70 million kroner since the mid-1990s and was unable to repay its debt. At the end of January 2002, the KDU-ČSL therefore certified the ODA in a resolution that the ODA was no longer a serious and trustworthy partner. The alliance, on the other hand, assumed that this was just a pretext. In fact, the departure of right-wing ODA from the coalition of four gave the three other parties scope to join forces with the Social Democrats after the election. At the beginning of February 2002 at the latest, the original coalition of four fell apart. Unie svobody (US) and Demokratická unie (DEU) merged to form the new party Unie svobody - Demokratická unie (Freedom Union - Democratic Union).

literature

  • Bernhard Taubenberger: Light across the country - The Bavarian coalition of four (1954–1957) ; Munich 2002; ISBN 3-9340-3689-9
  • Who offers more? in DER SPIEGEL 50/1954 of December 8, 1954.
  • The hand of the black powers in DER SPIEGEL 51/1954 of December 15, 1954.
  • Heike Bretschneider: The formation of the coalition of four. The party-political constellation in Bavaria in the first half of the fifties , in: ZBLG 41, 1978.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 50 years ago the SPD Prime Minister resigned , article of October 8, 2007 by Till Hofmann on Augsburger Allgemeine .de