New coalition deal after collapse of German state government

Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) and the conservative Christian Democrats signed a coalition deal in Brandenburg on Monday, paving the way for a new regional government in the eastern state after the collapse of a previous alliance.

Premier Dietmar Woidke from the SPD and Jan Redmann, regional chairman of the Christian Democrats (CDU), signed the agreement in the state capital of Potsdam, just outside Berlin.

The coalition agreement lays out the new government's priorities for the next three and a half years.

The previous SPD-led coalition in Brandenburg, the state that surrounds Berlin, fell apart in early January after less than a year in office following internal bickering within the upstart BSW party.

Woidke ruled out early elections, instead forging an alliance with the conservative CDU, mirroring Chancellor Friedrich Merz's coalition at the national level.

The populist BSW party, which is often critical of NATO and seen as Russia-friendly, failed to pass the 5% threshold to gain seats in Germany's Bundestag during the latest federal election in February.

However, the party came in third in Brandenburg state elections in September 2024, leading to an unlikely alliance with the SPD, which has consistently backed military support for Ukraine.

The coalition took office in December 2024 following months of wrangling over a coalition deal, with only two seats securing its majority in the state parliament.

Signs of crisis began to emerge in November, when four lawmakers left the BSW citing "authoritarian tendencies" within the party.

The developments in Brandenburg underscore the growing difficulty for Germany's mainstream parties to forge stable governing alliances amid the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is expected to make further gains in state elections in 2026 after winning its first regional vote in 2024.

All major parties have ruled out cooperating with the AfD - a policy known as the firewall - leaving them increasingly reliant on fragile and fragmented coalitions such as the one that fell apart in Brandenburg.