A thread on #Thuringia's historic compromise: Yesterday, CDU agreed to a “stability mechanism” = de-facto support of a Red-Red-Green minority government & the election of Die Linke’s Bodo #Ramelow as regional governor. What's the deal about and is #AfD now sidelined? (1/7) 
Red-Red-Green only has 42 out of 90 votes. So CDU needs to provide at least the remaining four on March 4 (in a secret ballot). The four parties will cooperate until the end of 2020 (including the budget vote). CDU won't rely on right-wing majorities with AfD and FDP. (2/7)
What does CDU get for that? Importantly, the party avoided snap elections in 2020, which would have meant electoral disaster - after voting with AfD for an FDP regional governor earlier this month. Instead, new elections will only be held in April 2021 (!). Time to recover. (3/7)
The agreement goes against a 2018 resolution of the national CDU: no cooperation with either Die Linke or AfD! With this in mind, CDU's Voigt described the role of his party as “constructive opposition” and avoided to speak of a “toleration” of Ramelow’s government. (4/7)
Importantly, CDU only found a temporary fix for its dilemma: While some CDU politicians support cooperation with Die Linke, others are open to the AfD. In 2021, three regional elections in the east will be held – most likely, the problem will only reappear. (5/7)
Ramelow is now the most prominent face of Die Linke – the party is struggling nationally. Like other regional governors, he has high (now very high) public support. But Thuringia is not "socialism in one country": the political scope for Red-Red-Green has & will be limited. (6/7)
For lovers of Italian politics: CDU politician Voigt called the deal “historic compromise” – similar to the “compromesso storico” between Democrazia Cristiana and the Italian Communists in the 1970s. I think I will have pasta for lunch today and watch some Serie A... 🇮🇹❤️ (7/7)
