As I rushed through a chaotic day at the traffic lights

Behind the story - As I rushed through a chaotic day with the traffic lights

Making-of - that's the name of our new format on stern.de. We want to give you a personal look behind the scenes, tell you about our everyday journalistic life, what we experience during research and what moves us in the editorial office. We are starting with a short series in which we look back on our moments in 2023.

When I let this year pass before my inner eye again, I sometimes think of the ticker messages. Here's a quick rundown since the summer: +++ July 5: Karlsruhe halts deliberations on the heating law +++ July 6: AfD reaches new high of 20 percent +++ August 6: Family Minister Paus blocks Finance Minister Lindner's tax plans +++ 31. August: Support for "Ampel" reaches new low +++ September 26: Greens and FDP clash over migration +++ October 8: SPD defeat in Hesse election +++ October 20: Chancellor calls for "deportations on a grand scale" +++ November 9: FDP members vote to end "Ampel" +++

Then came the bang from Karlsruhe - and with it the next shock for a coalition that has been governing in crisis mode practically since its inception. November 15: The Constitutional Court throws the budget plans of the traffic light coalition overboard. Rumms.

I and a few other journalists were sitting at Katja Mast's press breakfast when the breaking news flashed across the news tickers. The SPD parliamentary group manager regularly invites journalists to the Marie-Juchacz-Saal in the Bundestag to inform them about current plenary topics. However, Mast was probably not the only one whose mind was elsewhere from 10.06 a.m., the moment of the bang.

What consequences will the ruling have? On the budget, which was supposed to be passed soon? And for the unequal coalition partners, who like to settle their differences with money?

Although I have only been reporting from Berlin on the so-called political business since June, I have already witnessed a number of disruptions in the workings of the traffic light coalition. But this Wednesday was different. More hectic. More dramatic. More exciting, at least as a journalist. After all, the coalition's budget tricks - which made the ambitious and contradictory Ampel projects financially possible - were basically rejected by the Constitutional Court.

Are you talking about the Berlin bubble?

So I tried to keep up with events that were constantly overtaking each other. While SPD parliamentary group manager Mast bravely presented the plenary topics, I reached for my cell phone and sent a few text messages. What was going on? Many of the politicians in the traffic light party didn't know the answer to this question themselves. The implications of the Karlsruhe ruling were hardly foreseeable at the time - probably also because many had not reckoned with the far-reaching ruling. Or wanted to reckon with it.

I noticed something while texting: The more hectic the situation, the shorter the text messages. For many politicians, they are the preferred means of communication. It suits their rhythm. Politicians move through the day at a crazy pace, driven by the speed of events, debate and news. In other words, there is usually no time for more than a short text. Especially on such chaotic days, when every minute counts. The result is a language of its own that is spoken in the Berlin bubble.

People speak in "HG" (background) to discuss this or that issue more openly. It is not allowed to quote from this form of exchange. One wonders what the "GS" (General Secretary) or "PV" (Party Chairman) will say, be it from the "WBH" (Willy-Brandt-Haus, the SPD party headquarters) or "KAH" (Konrad-Adenauer-Haus, the CDU counterpart). And when will the "BK" (Federal Chancellor) give a "PK" (press conference)? LG!

Back to the "BT", i.e. Bundestag. After the press breakfast with Katja Mast, I hurried down a few floors to the press gallery in the plenary chamber. Chancellor Olaf Scholz was expected to question the government. A press conference was due to take place in the Chancellery shortly beforehand. I watched the joint statement by Scholz, Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck and Finance Minister Christian Lindner at 12.45 p.m. on the livestream. At 1 p.m. on the dot, the traffic light leaders appeared under the glass dome of the Reichstag. There are only a few hundred meters between the Chancellery and the Bundestag. Still, it's a mystery to me how they managed it.

Under and over the lime trees

Everything had to happen quickly that day. Habeck and Lindner were also busy hacking into their cell phones - crisis communication - while Scholz was probably somewhat reluctant to answer almost banal-looking questions after his budget management was declared unconstitutional. After all, it was a government inquiry, every MP can ask questions on any topic. After that, most of the government bench rushed out of the plenum. I also quickly changed the scene and went back to the fourth floor of the Bundestag.

On the so-called parliamentary group level are the conference rooms where the parliamentary groups meet (and were convened for evening crisis meetings that day). In front of the parliamentary group rooms are press walls in the respective party design. There, the "FV" (parliamentary group chairmen) stand in front of the microphones and cameras to present their view of things - a thoroughly party-political interpretation of the events - to the wider media public.

The heads of the CDU (Friedrich Merz) and CSU (Alexander Dobrindt) opened the battle for the sovereignty of interpretation, quite triumphantly. After all, the CDU/CSU had filed a lawsuit in Karlsruhe against the budget trickery of the traffic lights - and was successful. Shortly afterwards, Christian Dürr from the FDP followed as the first representative of a traffic light parliamentary group. Like the coalition leaders in the Chancellery, he did not allow any questions. What was he supposed to say? There were still no answers to many questions.

On this day, I experienced hectic government officials who had practically no idea how to proceed. I rushed through a day with them in which nothing was normal, even less than usual. You can read the chaos protocol here. Will it remain an exception?

+++ November 22: The traffic light coalition postpones the 2024 budget +++ November 30: The traffic light coalition cannot find a way out of the budget crisis +++ December 3: Robert Habeck cancels his trip to the COP 28 climate conference +++ December 13: The traffic light coalition reaches an agreement after an overnight meeting +++ December 18: The traffic light coalition's austerity plan starts to falter +++

That could be something next year.