WORLD: The first black-green coalition agreement in Kiel should be ready on Wednesday – are there still points that give you a stomach ache, Ms. Touré?
Aminata Touré: No stomach ache, but of course there are points in all areas where we would have preferred to have achieved more. In internal security, for example, where the CDU handwriting is clearly visible. We would have liked to have done more for civil rights.
Our election program says, for example, that the body cams of police officers should also be turned on in the future at the request of the citizens concerned. This will not be reflected in the coalition agreement, nor will the so-called control receipts, with which the police should be obliged to confirm in writing that people have been checked.
WORLD: Both points reflecting the old distrust of the Greens towards the police.
Touré: But that’s exactly not the case. Like the Union, we Greens have spoken out in favor of increasing the number of police officers. That will come too. However, we are also of the opinion that control receipts and the obligation to switch on the body cams would benefit both sides. The police and those being controlled.
These measures would ensure more transparency and more trust. However, there is a good balance between civil liberties and policing in the chapter.
WORLD: Are you satisfied with the coalition agreement?
Touré: I’m satisfied so far, no question. But of course it depends on the final result – and that won’t be available until Wednesday.
WORLD: Didn’t the Union, which also has alternatives to a black-green alliance in the event of the negotiations failing, have a much better negotiating position?
Touré: The negotiations were on an equal footing, but of course the CDU emphasized more than once that they got 43 percent. But there was always a common interest in reaching an agreement. It was clear to both sides that a failure of the negotiations would not reflect well on the parties involved. Neither to the CDU nor to the Greens.
WORLD: Do you have an explanation for the fact that election winner Daniel Günther (CDU) decided to negotiate with the Greens instead of choosing the supposedly easier path with the FDP? Black and yellow also has a majority in the Kiel state parliament.
Touré: Because it was already clear to him that the success of the Jamaica coalition, and thus also his personal success, was based on the fact that this alliance had reached beyond the old political camps. That’s how he contested the election campaign, that’s what he was elected for, and he can now build on that with Black-Green. That would not have been possible with black and yellow.
WORLD: But you already suspect that Prime Minister Günther hopes to be able to push through more and faster controversial projects with the help of the Greens – especially in the areas of infrastructure, energy supply, industrialization – than with the FDP. Is he mistaken?
Toure: That may be. But he also saw with certainty that we also made gains in the state elections, that our central issues – climate protection and social justice – are important to many people. And that it’s good for him when he has these people behind him.
Incidentally, we also see that, for example, planning must be accelerated in order to be able to master the major challenges that Schleswig-Holstein is facing. We are extremely slow in Germany, yes. So we have to get faster. But this must not go so far that people are no longer involved in these planning processes. That would be counterproductive.
WORLD: Does that also apply to the expansion of the A 20 motorway in the direction of Lower Saxony? And the construction of the fixed link across the Fehmarnbelt or its connection on the mainland? Both projects are central to the CDU, both projects have been waiting for implementation for decades – also because the Greens would actually prefer to stop them.
Touré: In our coalition agreement, we are concentrating on the points that we as a federal state actually have in our hands and can shape. The Greens and the CDU know that the federal traffic route plan is now being redesigned by the Berlin traffic light coalition and is being reviewed according to climate criteria, among other things. If it is then clear that certain projects should come, we as Schleswig-Holstein Greens will not block them on principle.
On the other hand, the CDU has no interest in rushing ahead again with a promise that this or that project will be completed by then and then and then not being able to keep it.
WORLD: Is black and green a means to an end or a joint project for you?
Toure: Both. For us, black-green is a joint project. And of course, like any government formation, it is also a means to an end.
WORLD: Are the Greens even closer to the SPD than to the Union?
Touré: In terms of content, definitely. But the romantic view of red-green, the hope that everything would be much easier with such a majority, would not stand up to scrutiny in reality either.
WORLD: Robert Habeck’s goal for years has been to replace the SPD as the leading force in the left camp. yours too?
Touré: It is true that the Greens are a party with a major socio-political focus, but are not yet sufficiently recognized as such. My wish is therefore that in the future we will no longer be perceived exclusively as a climate party, but also as a social party.
WORLD: Speaking of which – who should actually be the Green Party’s next candidate for chancellor?
Touré: This will definitely be an interesting race between Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck.
WORLD: Which department would you like to lead yourself in the next five years?
Touré: I can tell you that next Wednesday.
“Kick-off Politics” is WELT’s daily news podcast. The most important topic analyzed by WELT editors and the dates of the day. Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or directly via RSS feed.
