There has never been a black-green government constellation in the industrial state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Just a few days after the election, representatives of both parties sat down at a table in Düsseldorf.

Three days after their success in the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, representatives of the CDU and the Greens met for an initial meeting. At the invitation of the CDU, five politicians from each party are coming together in Düsseldorf this afternoon.

Among them are Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst and Green Party leader Mona Neubaur. According to both sides, it is about an assessment of the current political situation in North Rhine-Westphalia. There is no mention of an exploratory talk in the announcements. In purely mathematical terms, Black-Green would have a clear majority in the newly elected parliament of the most populous federal state.

Greens as the third strongest force

The Greens, who almost tripled their result compared to the 2017 state elections and became the third strongest force with 18.2 percent on Sunday, are speaking first to the election winner, the CDU. But they are also available for talks with the SPD, as Neubaur made clear on Tuesday after the constitutive meeting of the state parliamentary group. “If the SPD invites us, we will of course also talk to her,” she emphasized. The Greens are ready to take responsibility – even in difficult times.

Despite a historically bad result, the SPD wants to explore possibilities for a traffic light coalition like in the federal government. SPD state leader Thomas Kutschaty announced on Tuesday that he wanted to invite the Greens and the FDP to talks. After the election result, it is not enough for red-green anyway. In order to lead a government, the SPD would need the FDP as a partner alongside the Greens.

The FDP parliamentary group leader in the state parliament, Christof Rasche, is open to talks with other parties. “I assume that we will talk to each other, but one thing is clear: there will be black and green and nothing else is up for debate,” he said on Tuesday.

Jusos against large GroKo under CDU leadership

The top candidate of the election winner, the CDU, Hendrik Wüst, sees the electoral mandate for the forthcoming government formation as clearly in his party and announced talks with all democratic parties after the election. Kuschaty reported that he had also received an invitation to an interview from the CDU on Monday. “We’ve all been talking for a long time,” said the SPD state chief.

The North Rhine-Westphalian Jusos can under no circumstances imagine a grand coalition led by the CDU. “We have campaigned for a change in policy, and that’s why the GroKo is absolutely excluded for us in North Rhine-Westphalia,” said the chairman of the SPD youth organization, Konstantin Achinger, the dpa. In his words, the Social Democrats would have to accept the election results “with humility”. The CDU and Greens are now on the ball first, but the SPD is ready for a traffic light coalition. “Whether the FDP in NRW is available for such a departure remains a question mark.”