Rheinland-Pfalz’s Minister-President, Alexander Schweitzer of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), is open to the possibility of reviving the grand coalition in Mainz, where the same coalition has been in power for eight years.
“I am very open to the idea” Schweitzer told Ippen-Media. “If a government works well together and is successful, there is no reason not to continue, as long as the voters want it. For me, a government with the Greens and the Free Democratic Party is still a plausible option.”
The 2026 state elections in Rheinland-Pfalz are looming, and Schweitzer highlights the differences between the regional government and the failed grand coalition in Berlin.
“What sets our government in Rheinland-Pfalz apart from the Berlin grand coalition is that we do not engage in conflicts for the sake of conflict” Schweitzer said. “In the end, I felt that the Berlin grand coalition sought conflicts to profile themselves externally.”
The regional government, Schweitzer emphasized, can engage in internal discussions, find solutions, and then present a united front externally.
“And that, despite the fact that we three coalition partners are self-assured and not suspected of merging. We have made a commitment to allow each other political successes, because in the end, we all benefit from them. We discuss with each other, not over each other, even in the case of a conflict.