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Vietnam editionThe Left Party, the Greens and the SPD agreed in Berlin on Saturday on a 30-page exploratory paper and are recommending coalition negotiations (ZDF, Tagesspiegel). Housing companies with more than 10,000 apartments are to be transferred to an institution under public law, with compensation capped at 16 billion euros; Eralp cites around 160,000 apartments held by five companies. Within a year, a legal basis is to be created for a binding WBS quota. The party bodies must approve, and negotiations could begin in early November. On Sunday, at the Junge Union’s Deutschlandtag in Bonn, Söder called such an alliance a “red front” and, according to Handelsblatt and t-online, threatened cuts to the state fiscal equalization. Merz called on the SPD and the Greens to end the talks (ZDF, Jüdische Allgemeine). The Berlin CDU under Stefan Evers sharply criticized the agreement.
An exploratory paper does not bind the parties, but it sets out what is to be negotiated. Socialization concerns property, compensation and the budget at once, which is why it affects tenants and housing companies alike. That the Union from the federal level and Bavaria is intervening links the Berlin decision to the question of how the SPD and the Greens deal with the Left Party.
If you rent or let in Berlin, you should wait for the text of the later coalition agreement, because binding rules will only be found there. The key data are already in the paper: a threshold of 10,000 apartments and compensation of at most 16 billion euros.
Supporters, according to the reports, see in the paper a path to affordable rents: Eralp speaks of 160,000 affected apartments, the WBS quota is to be anchored in law within a year, and compensation is capped at 16 billion euros. The cooperatives remain exempt.
Critics see a risk. Evers of the Berlin CDU and Giffey of the SPD warn of serious consequences, Söder speaks of a “new fall from grace” and demands consequences for the state fiscal equalization. According to one report, financing and constitutionality remain open.
What is confirmed is a paper with a recommendation, not an alliance: the bodies must approve, and negotiations could only begin in November. The threats from Munich are so far demands without a decision. What to watch are the decisions of the Berlin party bodies and whether the question of constitutionality is answered concretely in the negotiating text.
ZDF, Tagesspiegel, Berliner Zeitung, Handelsblatt, t-online (Oct. 17 and 18, 2026)
Left Party, Greens and SPD agree on an exploratory paper in Berlin and recommend coalition negotiations
The paper provides for the socialization of large housing holdings; Söder and the Junge Union react with sharp criticism and demands for sanctions.
The Left Party, the Greens and the SPD agreed in Berlin on Saturday on a joint exploratory paper and are recommending that their parties begin coalition negotiations. ZDF and Tagesspiegel report this. According to Tagesspiegel, the 30-page paper is titled “More together, more Berlin.” At its core is socialization: housing companies with more than 10,000 apartments are to be transferred to an institution under public law, with compensation capped at 16 billion euros. Left Party lead candidate Elif Eralp spoke, according to the reports, of around 160,000 apartments held by five companies; cooperatives and apartments built since 2021 or under construction are exempt. In addition, within a year a legal basis is to be created for a binding WBS quota for existing apartments. The paper also deals with rent policy and the state budget. The party bodies must approve it, and negotiations could begin in early November. Berlin CDU leader Stefan Evers sharply criticized the agreement. Economic Affairs Senator Franziska Giffey of the SPD warned, according to the reports, of serious consequences of socialization; she had ruled out a coalition with the Left Party, according to a dpa report of October 11. According to one of the reports, financing and constitutionality remain open.
At the federal level, the Union’s reaction to the three parties’ agreement was pronounced. Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz called on the SPD and the Greens to end the talks with the Left Party, according to reports by ZDF and Jüdische Allgemeine; he pointed out that there is also a majority with the CDU in the House of Representatives. On Sunday, CSU leader Markus Söder, speaking at the Junge Union’s Deutschlandtag in Bonn, spoke of a “red front” in Berlin and called such an alliance a “new fall from grace.” He demanded a “firewall to the left,” as Handelsblatt and Berliner Zeitung report. According to Handelsblatt and t-online, he also threatened cuts to the state fiscal equalization, “as far as I’m concerned, even just for Berlin”; Berlin already receives about four billion euros from it. According to the reports, the Junge Union passed a resolution that calls for social ostracism of the alliance, a faster ban on planned socializations and the exclusion of such a state government from information held by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Federal Criminal Police Office. Söder backed the proposal. There is no coalition agreement; the sanctions are so far only demands.