The first pages of the coalition agreement between the CDU and the Greens in North Rhine-Westphalia read as if the parties were about to merge.
Also in the further course of the juxtaposition is so well done that it looks like an intertwining.
Every now and then one comes across ideas that can clearly be attributed to one side or the other.
But after this agreement, neither the CDU nor the Greens will be able to distance themselves so far from it that the impression is created that they actually didn't want this or that.
This is the difference to conventional coalition agreements.
What the two parties signed in Düsseldorf should be more than that.
It's not for nothing that they give their joint project a different name: it's supposed to be a "contract for the future".
The CDU and the Greens are not only thinking of North Rhine-Westphalia, but also of their own future.
Whoever comes out on top, this coalition has a prominent role to play.
In a powerful country, it is continuing a model from which both parties promise a long-term perspective as the strongest governing party in the federal and state governments.
Both reinforce their ability to learn.
The difference: the CDU does it defensively, the Greens offensively.
SPD and FDP will have to come up with something to suck honey for the traffic light.