Enlarge imagePhoto: Focke Strangmann / dpa

In Bremen, the old coalition is likely to be the new one: The Bremen Greens have spoken out in favour of starting coalition negotiations with the SPD and the Left Party. At the state party congress, this decision was made without dissenting votes with two abstentions, a party spokeswoman said. Previously, the SPD and the Left Party had already decided to start talks on the continuation of the red-green-red government alliance. According to the SPD, the coalition negotiations are to begin on Tuesday.

However, none of the previous members of the government will continue with the Greens after losing votes in the parliamentary elections. Now Social Senator Anja Stahmann has also announced her resignation. She will resign from the Senate and will not accept her citizenship mandate, she said at the state general meeting. Because of the election defeat, Environment Senator and top candidate Maike Schaefer no longer wants to be part of the next Senate. In addition, Finance Senator Dietmar Strehl is no longer available.

After 17.4 percent of the vote in the 2019 election, the Bremen Greens had only 11.9 percent this time. As a result, the eco-party is likely to get only two instead of three Senate posts. In a future Bremen state government, the Greens would also have to relinquish responsibility for transport, construction and urban development, according to state leader Florian Pfeffer. The SPD had made this a condition in the exploratory talks, he said. Until now, these areas, together with the environment and climate protection, have been part of Schaefer's major portfolio.

"We didn't do a good job"

At the party congress, Pfeffer nevertheless called for negotiations on a continued alliance with the SPD and the Left Party. Schaefer argued that without construction and transport, it would be much more difficult to achieve success in saving carbon dioxide.

At the party congress, the eco-party took a self-critical look at the defeat in the parliamentary elections on 14 May. "We have not done a good job in the last four years," said MP Henrike Müller. It will now be more difficult to continue working with a much smaller group, she said. Müller is considered a candidate for the chairmanship of the parliamentary group, if the previous boss Björn Fecker should move to the Senate.

FDI/DPA