In Brandenburg, the CDU parliamentary group in the state parliament helped the government party SPD win a slim majority on Wednesday afternoon. The majority of BSW MPs followed through on their own announcement that they did not want to vote for their coalition partners. It was about the State Reform Agreement, which was intended to reform public broadcasting. 45 representatives voted for the law, and a total of 88 representatives sat in the state parliament, so the vote was very close.
Brandenburg was the last federal state to break with the seventh reform state agreement. This is intended to make ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio more efficient and digital. This also relates to the country’s agreement for more media protection for the younger generation, and the majority of this was also achieved thanks to CDU lawmakers. If a majority is not achieved, both projects will fail for now. At the request of the CDU, two votes in the state parliament were held directly.
The BSW parliamentary group, which forms a government coalition with the SPD in Brandeburg, previously announced that a majority would vote no. He called for further reforms and warned against excessive government intervention to provide more media protection for young people. The AfD also wants to oppose the reform agreement.
The opposition CDU, consisting of twelve members of the state parliament, have announced that they will vote for him. State and parliamentary group leader Jan Redmann said in a debate on Wednesday that the need for reform in the field of public broadcasting did not end with the project. “But this is one step in the right direction. Maybe two steps in the right direction.” He denied accusations by the AfD faction that the new reform agreement would increase the funding needs of ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio.
BSW Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Robert Crumbach announced before the vote, contrary to his group, that he would vote in favour. “I’m really relaxed,” Crumbach said. Although four BSW MPs resigned last week, the former state leader is confident that the conflict can be resolved internally. All parties tried to work together at the group’s meeting on Tuesday, he said. “Everything will be fine.”
