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The party leader of the Greens and the Christian Democratic Prime Minister of Saxony-Anhalt have a short, friendly line to each other.
Reiner Haseloff's private number is fed into Robert Habeck's cell phone, and vice versa.
In the past few years, the Doctor of Philosophy and the Doctor of Physics have telephoned each other often and at length.
Mostly it was about problems in the Kenya coalition of the CDU, SPD and Greens, which Haseloff has been head of government since spring 2016.
So it is no wonder when Habeck explains on Thursday morning at a digital conference in front of the capital city press that the current escalation in Magdeburg “is not the first crisis I have to deal with in Saxony-Anhalt”.
However, Habeck makes this very clear, it could soon be the last crisis that he intervenes there from Berlin.
"I've never seen a party so incapable of action!" Complains Habeck.
He sees a "blatant leadership weakness of the CDU at all levels".
Even minimal agreements would be canceled by the coalition partner after 45 minutes.
The purpose and task of the Kenya coalition in its formation was "to keep the forces of the CDU that do not want to cooperate with the AfD in the middle of society," explains Habeck.
But "we are obviously not able to do that at the moment".
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In fact, the Kenya coalition in Saxony-Anhalt is on the verge of breaking up.
The dispute revolves around the approval of the state parliament to increase the broadcasting fee.
On Wednesday, the arguing actors in Magdeburg gave each other seven more days to find a solution.
But the proposals that are on the table are not yet compatible with each other.
The Kenya coalition has been declared dead many times, this time it's deadly serious.
At first glance, it's only about 86 cents a month, payable from January 1, 2021. But in the background it's about much more - and the Greens are now concerned with the principle.
Should the CDU parliamentary group vote against the state treaty together with the AfD in the state parliament, the union would abandon the founding consensus of the coalition, so the main argument.
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The country chief of the Greens, Sebastian Striegel, is a reliable, level-headed partner in the CDU leadership of Saxony-Anhalt.
It says appreciatively that he does not pour gasoline into burning conflicts, but usually calls the fire brigade.
But Striegel also became very clear this Thursday morning - and attacked Haseloff directly.
The Prime Minister had "negligently brought about" the current crisis because he failed to clarify the situation in his party and parliamentary group in the summer and autumn.
Now the opponents are running out of time and their positions have hardened.
Striegel calls the Union's approach in Saxony-Anhalt “lying”.
The Greens did not agree to the coalition agreement in the spring of 2016 "so that a proposal that was signed by 16 prime ministers, including our own, would be rejected," he says sharply.
A solution could now “only consist in Saxony-Anhalt stepping back into the concert of the 16 other federal states and the government proposal finding a majority in parliament”.
But that will hardly be possible with the CDU parliamentary group in Saxony-Anhalt.
It is repeatedly emphasized there that approval of the State Treaty is out of the question.
The compromise could only consist of suspending a vote in parliament by asking the commission to determine the financial needs of the broadcasters (KEF) to recalculate the contribution for Saxony-Anhalt.
After all, the economic situation has fundamentally changed due to the economic crisis in the corona pandemic.
The man at the epicenter of the revolt
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The media policy spokesman for the CDU parliamentary group, Markus Kurz, reacted indignantly to the red line drawn by Striegel and Habeck on Thursday.
"That is a poor indictment of the Greens," he told WELT.
“You are breaking a coalition agreement in the greatest crisis of the post-war period.
You apparently did not understand how democracy works. "
In the CDU of Saxony-Anhalt, Kurz is practically the epicenter of the contribution revolt.
He always emphasizes that the coalition agreed on “stable contributions” in 2016.
His course finds great support, especially in the parliamentary group;
His influence there currently seems to be greater than that of Prime Minister Haseloff, who obviously would have preferred a different positioning of his party friends.
Does Saxony-Anhalt's coalition break up in the dispute over radio license fees?
Will the license fee be increased on January 1st?
This question is answered in Saxony-Anhalt, the shaky candidate among the federal states.
A dispute is raging in the Kenya coalition there over the increase, which could even lead to the end of the alliance.
Source: WORLD
However, there are also critical voices in the regional association.
The influential CDU state treasurer Karl Gerhold announced his resignation in the event that the CDU and AfD should vote together.
In an email to party friends, he now warns of a "political disaster".
"We are put in the corner as filthy children and no longer as a guarantor of political stability," it continues.
He does not want to be available for a "kamikaze policy".
So far, the CDU headquarters in Berlin has been remarkably cautious.
Habeck said on Thursday that he hoped that at least "behind the scenes" would be worked.
So far this has not been very successful.
"My impression is that everyone in the CDU is doing what they want."
This observation is hardly denied even by leading Union politicians.
From party leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer there is no comment on the cause of Saxony-Anhalt.
At the beginning of the year she had put herself in a mess with a political intervention during the government crisis in Thuringia at the time.
When trying to get the CDU parliamentary group in Erfurt on course, they came across granite.
Shortly afterwards, she announced that she did not want to run again as party leader.
Friedrich Merz, who wants to inherit Kramp-Karrenbauer, expressed understanding for the position of the CDU in Saxony-Anhalt.
In the times of Corona one could see a premium increase critically, he told the "Münchner Merkur".
He is thereby supporting Prime Minister Haseloff's course of avoiding a vote.
Merz is popular in the CDU in Saxony-Anhalt, but he could not avoid a joint vote between the AfD and CDU in parliament.
It is "completely unimportant what opinion the AfD" has, Merz said.
But it is not only the SPD and the Greens in Magdeburg who see it very differently.
One of the few critical announcements from the CDU in the east came from Marco Wanderwitz.
The federal government's Eastern Commissioner from Saxony said on Twitter that he considered the planned increase in the contribution to be moderate.
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He is of the opinion “that today more than ever we need a strong public service broadcaster.
Important for democracy. "
While the actors in Magdeburg persist in cramps, in other state capitals people are shaking their heads.
The heads of government of Bavaria and Berlin, Markus Söder (CSU) and Michael Müller (SPD), were often spider enemies in the corona pandemic.
They are in agreement on the topic of premium increases and Saxony-Anhalt.
One cannot negotiate forever, they say in unison.
The corona crisis in particular has shown how important public media are with their reporting.
Country bosses sign contract for higher broadcasting fee
The Prime Ministers have signed the State Treaty for an increase in the license fee.
This means that the contribution could increase by EUR 0.86 from 2021.
Source: WELT / Nicole Fuchs-Wiecha
Lower Saxony's Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) also seems to be rubbing his eyes in Hanover about what's going on in the neighboring country to the east.
Should the CDU vote no in Magdeburg, the broadcasters would go to the Federal Constitutional Court and win there, he told the “editorial network Germany”.
15 out of 16 countries agree on this.
15 of 16?
Not quite yet.
In addition to Saxony-Anhalt, a vote from Thuringia is still pending.
An exact date for a vote in the state parliament in December has not yet been set.
On Wednesday the CDU parliamentary group discussed the issue in Erfurt, without a decision.
The premium increase has also been controversial there for a long time.
He had “great understanding for the criticism that is being put forward,” said CDU parliamentary group leader Mario Voigt to the “Thuringian General”.
The structural disadvantage in the East in particular remains a major problem.
In the Erfurt state parliament, the left, the Greens and the SPD want to approve the contribution increase.
But that's not enough.
After the AfD and FDP have announced no, it now depends on the Union.
According to WELT information, opponents and supporters of the State Treaty are roughly balanced in the CDU parliamentary group.
Group leader Voigt indicated that the parliamentary group could be lifted when voting, each CDU member would then vote as he sees fit.
Approval for the premium increase would be relatively certain in this way.
The CDU in Saxony-Anhalt rules out such a splitting process.
At least so far.
One does not want to be divided, it was said to justify.
Would a release of the vote be a way out of the crisis?
In Magdeburg, too, there are Christian Democrats in the state parliament who consider voting with the AfD to be dangerous.
They're just very, very quiet right now.