“They will have to do that again”: Does the Merz CDU now want to work with the Left?

After the turbulent chancellor election, the CDU 's incompatibility resolution with the Left Party is shaky. "We will have to discuss this together," said the new head of the Chancellery, Thorsten Frei (CDU), on RTL and n-tv when asked whether he favored abolishing the rule. After Friedrich Merz failed in the first round of voting on Tuesday, the approval of a two-thirds majority in the Bundestag was needed to make a second attempt that same day. In the negotiations on a motion to shorten the deadline, the CDU/CSU parliamentary group consulted not only with the Greens but also with the Left Party, which was sometimes interpreted as a departure from the incompatibility resolution.

"We are certainly in a situation where we have to reevaluate one or two issues," Frei said the following day. He added that one could once again see "what a problem it is when one cannot, so to speak, foreseeably organize a two-thirds majority in the German Bundestag." A broad majority is needed, for example, for constitutional amendments, but also—as in this case—for changes to the parliamentary rules of procedure.

At a federal party conference in 2018, the CDU passed a resolution declaring incompatibility with both the AfD and the Left Party – albeit with different justifications. Union politicians have since emphasized that the decision in no way constitutes equality. The rule excludes "coalitions and similar forms of cooperation." There are different opinions about when this rule applies.

In recent years, there have been repeated calls for a reform of the resolution – especially because, in light of a growing AfD with which no one wants to cooperate, parliamentary majorities are becoming more fragile and complicated. The Left Party in particular, but also individual CDU politicians such as former general secretary Mario Czaja , have called for an opening of the CDU/CSU.

"It should be normal for democratic parties to talk to each other in parliament," said Ines Schwerdtner, co-chair of the Left Party, to the Berliner Zeitung. "The CDU is still struggling with this, but has finally overcome its fear. They will have to do it again when it comes to the debt brake." The CDU and SPD had raised the prospect of a possible reform of the debt rule in the Basic Law, which would also require a two-thirds majority in parliament.

"In this respect, the official repeal of the incompatibility resolution is long overdue," says Bundestag member Schwerdtner. "But how the CDU draws its internal lines is ultimately not our problem. For us, it's only clear that we're out if they negotiate in parallel with the AfD."

The new parliamentary director of the CDU/CSU, Steffen Bilger (CDU), emphasized on broadcaster Welt that the new talks with the Left Party were "not a substantive collaboration." "The incompatibility resolution still applies." However, there will be repeated situations in Parliament in the coming weeks where discussions will be necessary, for example, on organizational issues.