Ralf Fücks, a leading thinker for the Green Party, sharply criticized the consensus reached between the Berlin Left, the Greens, and the SPD, dismissing the agreement as mere window dressing. The long-time director of the party-affiliated Heinrich Böll Foundation told the news portal T-Online that the joint paper was simply “an exercise in legitimization.” He argued that this declaration, which paved the way for governmental discussions, cannot conceal the deep-seated presence of “Israel hatred, anti-Zionism, and antisemitism within the Left party and its support sphere.”
The former Senator from Bremen and co-founder of the think tank “Zentrum Liberale Moderne” also pointed to “serious problems” concerning both the economy and internal security. Fücks questioned how the SPD and the Greens could govern alongside a party that advocates for state-owned enterprises, redistribution, debt, and telling “investors to leave.” He noted that Berlin needs to regain its economic footing quickly, but this will not happen through the current approach. Furthermore, concerning rising opportunistic crime, he found it confusing how the capital could become safer while the Left Party was in government.
He posed the question: “Are the Greens and the SPD willing to sweep these issues under the rug and hand over the keys of the city to a neo-socialist Left?” Fücks suggested that if Berlin was to serve as a pilot project for the nation under a Left pact, the political parties involved should at least accept these fundamental challenges. The Green thinker criticized the assumption that the three parties simply wanted to cooperate, stating that this goal was predetermined from the outset.
Fücks also deemed it “irresponsible” that a coalition involving the CDU, Greens, and SPD was not being explored concurrently. While acknowledging that such a coalition would consist of the electoral losers, he stressed that “it would be a clear political alternative.” However, he added that this alternative coalition would require a complete refresh, both substantively and in terms of personnel, to have any legitimacy.
Fücks is also among the signatories of a Berlin Appeal, which included warnings from former high-ranking Green and SPD politicians like Joschka Fischer and Wolfgang Thierse regarding a potential Red-Green-Red coalition in Berlin.
