Greens and SPD Vote to Enter Formal Coalition Talks with Die Linke in Berlin

On Monday, October 19, 2026, two of the three parties pursuing a Red-Green-Red coalition for Berlin held decisive votes. The Greens convened a 49-delegate state committee at 8 PM, while the SPD state board met via digital session. Both parties were expected to approve the sounding paper produced after Berlin's September 20 state election, where Die Linke won 25.7%, CDU 18.8%, AfD 16.3%, Greens 14.3%, and SPD 12.1%. The 25-page paper, titled 'Mehr gemeinsam, mehr Berlin' (More Together, More Berlin), was presented by party leaders Elif Eralp (Linke), Werner Graf (Greens), and Steffen Krach (SPD). Key policy promises include plans to expropriate approximately 160,000 apartments from major real estate corporations, a 2% annual rent cap for state-owned housing, cheaper public transit passes, construction of 100,000 new units, and rejection of the A100 motorway extension and development on Tempelhofer Feld. Die Linke's state congress is scheduled for October 31 to give final approval, with formal coalition negotiations expected to begin in early November and a new government targeted for year-end.