Assuming that all other parties would continue to uphold the firewall around the AfD, the only possible majority coalition government in Baden-Württemberg after the election would be one between the Greens and the CDU.
Despite doubts about how easy such a negotiation would be, or whether it would even succeed, the new Landtag endorsed the Greens’ Cem Özdemir as Minister-President, in good time, on 13 May. In so doing, it also endorsed the new coalition agreement, for the period 2026 to 2031.
This post looks at two questions. First, why was a coalition agreement reached – to all appearances – quite so easily in Baden-Württemberg? Second, what kinds of message does the agreement deliver, both generally, and using the chapters on the economy and on justice and migration as examples, specifically too?
The political salience of these two subjects makes what the agreement has to say about them of wide interest. On the economy, that’s because what Baden-Württemberg is grappling with is not how it economy can catch-up, but how it can stay in front.
On justice and migration, it’s because this coalition is offering an unambiguously centrist response to what many, not least in the federal government, see as the reason for the strength of support for the AfD.
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