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Almost unanimously: The Hesse CDU at the summit on the coalition agreement
Photo: Andreas Arnold / dpa
The black-red coalition agreement in Hesse is a done deal. After the CDU, the SPD also approved the government program 2024 to 2029 at a party congress in Groß-Umstadt near Darmstadt on Saturday.
At an extraordinary party congress in Groß-Umstadt near Darmstadt, there were 253 votes in favour, 56 against and eight abstentions. Thus, the contract was approved with 81.9 percent.
Previously, at a parallel small party congress of the CDU in Frankfurt, 133 delegates had given the green light for the paper with only one vote against. According to current plans, the coalition agreement is to be signed on Monday.
SPD state leader Nancy Faeser described the black-red coalition as a "community of responsibility." A "love marriage" is not the desired government alliance, said the Federal Minister of the Interior in Groß-Umstadt. For example, the coalition agreement formulates goals in refugee policy "that hurt extraordinarily." At the same time, there is also a lot of social democratic handwriting in the 184-page paper, for example in social, housing and labour market policy.
At the SPD party conference, however, there was a lot of criticism of the treaty, for example also because of narrow guardrails for migration or because of the planned ban on special gender characters in schools and universities. In his own words, a "non-binary person" said that she "should not be allowed to happen again". Presumably, however, a gender ban would be unconstitutional anyway. After a quarter of a century on the opposition benches, the Hessian SPD is entering a black-red coalition as a clear junior partner. In the state election on October 8, it received 15.1 percent, less than half of the votes of the CDU (34.6 percent).
"This is a treaty that brings things together"
Before the SPD, the Hesse CDU had given the green light for the coalition agreement at a party conference. The 133 delegates approved the paper by a large majority. There was only one dissenting vote. "This is a treaty that brings things together," said Hesse's Prime Minister Boris Rhein. The promises made in the election manifesto would be kept.
Among other things, the coalition agreement provides for an increased range of educational opportunities for daycare centres and schools. The multi-tier school system is to be maintained and the number of teachers increased. There should also be more police officers. The black-red coalition wants to significantly limit irregular migration and at the same time strengthen the integration of refugees with the right to stay.
sol/dpa