It's once again an experiment that the possibly new government in Saxony-Anhalt is boiling down to.

On Monday evening, the CDU, SPD and FDP agreed on a coalition.

It would be the first of its kind since the 1950s, when the three parties in Berlin, Bremen and Saarland worked together.

In Magdeburg this constellation is only one of several possible, but also the one most desired by the population in surveys.

Stefan Locke

Correspondent for Saxony and Thuringia based in Dresden.

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The three future partners refer to this again and again. Especially since it needs to be explained that the CDU and SPD also brought the Liberals on board, although they would have had their own majority of one vote in the state parliament, albeit a narrow one. But hardly anyone in Magdeburg wants to get involved in tight conditions since the first Kenya coalition in Germany made up of CDU, SPD and Greens several times just missed the break in the past five years.

"The struggle for stability was palpable in the negotiations," said the Deputy FDP parliamentary group leader Andreas Silbersack of the FAZ fifth wheel on the wagon. "We are needed more than the election result shows at first glance."

A majority vote would have been a risky undertaking, as a minority within the CDU parliamentary group tends to favor the AfD and has given in to this tendency again and again in the past legislative period. The advocates of such a course are no longer represented in the newly elected parliamentary group leadership, but a comfortable majority of 56 seats in the 97-seat state parliament allows the future coalitionists to govern more calmly.

Independently of this, money, departments and responsibilities were fought for three days beyond the actual time target. All partners would have had to make painful concessions, said CDU chairman Sven Schulze. “Everyone really fought here.” The CDU was primarily concerned with responsibility for the economy, which had previously been with the SPD. Now Schulze is to head the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which has been expanded to include agriculture.

The 42-year-old father of three has so far been a member of the European Union in Brussels, has been the CDU chairman in Saxony-Anhalt since March and is considered a possible successor to Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff, who - should he be re-elected in the state parliament on September 16 - for the third and probably last time the office of head of government would take over.

For Haseloff, it would be the third new coalition constellation in which he would rule after red-black and black-red-green.

The Social Democrats recognize themselves in the coalition agreement

The SPD, which had shrunk to a good eight percent in the state elections, was very satisfied with the results of the negotiations on Tuesday. "The contract also bears a clearly visible social-democratic signature," said state chairwoman Juliane Kleemann of the FAZ. “Anyone who wants to have public contracts in the future must pay collective wages,” said Kleemann. “The public sector must be a role model.” Companies in Saxony-Anhalt, which is largely free of collective bargaining agreements, would then have to pay their employees at least the second-lowest pay level in the public service. In future, the SPD will head the two departments for science, energy, climate protection and the environment as well as labor, social affairs, health and equality.

The FDP, on the other hand, proudly refers to “a clear streamlining and de-bureaucratization” in public procurement law. "We really took it a step further," said Silbersack. The thresholds for public tenders for services are to be doubled to 40,000 euros and for construction work to be increased from 50,000 to 120,000 euros. With these values, municipalities are likely to award contracts without a tender.

In addition, there is a simplified tendering process for construction works of up to one million euros.

So far the value was 150,000 euros.

“These are all things that business has urgently asked us for,” said Silbersack.

He was also satisfied with the allocation of responsibilities.

With the Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and Digitization, the Liberals would have “the house that exactly matches our DNA”.

It is to be headed by FDP country chief and top candidate Lydia Hüskens.

Until then, however, the members of the CDU and SPD as well as a party congress of the FDP have to vote on the draft contract.

According to those involved, this will happen in the next four weeks.