They’ll lose their magic once they’re in power! That doesn’t apply to everyone, does it? – A commentary

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Why, given the results of the last three state elections, is the talk currently focused solely on Berlin? The CDU in particular – which was ousted from the state parliament in MVP and has also shrunk to near-insignificance in the other states – would have plenty of reasons to question its election results. Instead, it is fixating on the Berlin result.

There, a left-wing coalition comprising Die Linke, the Greens and the SPD can govern with 91 out of 153 seats in the House of Representatives. This corresponds to 52.1 per cent of the votes cast by Berliners. Ultimately, a potential coalition of parties was elected whose members, in principle, advocate the socialization of homeownership.

Danger looms in Berlin

It must be emphasized, however, that this is not about owning one flat or residential property, nor even two or three. It concerns property conglomerates owning more than 10,000 flats. The outcry from the conservatives is so loud that one might think it were once again about ‘Granny’s little cottage’.

One reaction is particularly worth highlighting: Marco Buschmann, seemingly in despair, clutches his head on LinkedIn and writes, as a lawyer and former Federal Minister of Justice: “The cat’s out of the bag! Housing socialism is set to arrive in Berlin. The Left Party, the SPD, and the Greens want to nationalize 160,000 flats, but pay no more than 16 billion euros in compensation for them. That works out at €100,000 per flat, which – based on an average of 65 square metres – is a good €1,500 per square metre. I consider this to be clearly unconstitutional. The federal government must now swiftly deliver the promised legislation designed to put a stop to this madness.”

That sounds interesting; you don’t even need to be a lawyer to question it. In his view, a law is needed to counter something that is unconstitutional. If socialization is contrary to the Basic Law, then no law would be needed. The matter would have to be referred to the Federal Constitutional Court, which would rule on it.

However, the federal government actually wants to draft a law – a ‘Lex DW & Co’ – modelled on the 2021 referendum ‘Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co’. There is a very good analysis of the whole issue by the LTO; there’s no need to repeat it all here.

LTO reports: “As early as the beginning of July, the CDU/CSU and SPD coalition committee at federal level resolved: ‘In order not to jeopardize private housing construction, federal legislation will stipulate that the nationalization of private rental housing stock through socialization laws at state level is no longer possible.’ Following Sunday’s election in Berlin, Chancellor Friedrich Merz reaffirmed the plan.” The very phrase ‘no longer’ in the last sentence shows that socialization is possible and is therefore presumably not contrary to the Basic Law.

The new Federal Minister of Justice is unsure whether such a law is legally possible at all. However, it appears that both the CDU and the FDP – however insignificant the latter may be – do not believe that the Left Party will lose its allure.

No danger looms in Saxony-Anhalt

In Saxony-Anhalt, on the other hand, there will be an AfD government, regardless of the votes cast or the number of ballot rounds required to elect the Minister-President. Are there any voices from the federal government calling, for example, for a ban on efforts to abolish compulsory schooling in Saxony-Anhalt?

The AfD’s government programme states under the heading ‘Compulsory education instead of compulsory schooling’: ‘We are firmly opposed to all attempts by the state to interfere in the upbringing of children.’

In Article 7 of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, we find (1): “The entire school system is under the supervision of the state”, from which it presumably follows that this sentence is not in conformity with the Basic Law.

The sentence in the government programme – “We will therefore, following the Austrian model, create freedom of choice between school education and homeschooling. However, this is conditional on home-schooling meeting the same quality standards as school education.” certainly does not meet the requirements of Article 7(4) and (5) of the Basic Law. But that is just an example; there is no outcry over this – and why should there be? The AfD will, after all, ‘lose its allure’, if one is to believe the Conservatives under Merz.

Conclusion: The Left have been identified as a serious opponent – one might almost say an enemy – and are being fought. That worked a treat once before, didn’t it? The fear that a state government with even a hint of left-wing leanings might succeed dominates the Conservatives more than the shift to the right. The CDU’s unsuccessful lead candidate in the Berlin House of Representatives elections, Stefan Evers, expresses this clearly. Perhaps he had hoped for too long that the SPD and the Greens would still form a coalition with him after all.