The votes have hardly been counted, the coalition negotiations have not yet begun, and that’s when the anger over important offices begins. In the event of Green government participation, party leader Robert Habeck could become vice chancellor, not ex-chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock. This message has been spreading in Berlin since Monday evening and is causing nervousness among some. Former Environment Minister Jürgen Trittin forbade premature post pushing. At the end of the government talks, whoever is at the forefront of the Greens has to determine the party, not the Baerbock / Habeck conclave.
Kickin Throw-in can be understood as a warning from a party that has kept its feet still for a long time. The Greens let their party leaders have their way when they decided in the spring in a one-on-one discussion who would take over the candidacy for chancellor. With Annalena Baerbock, you had hoped and struggled when her candidacy for chancellor went into a tailspin, then failed. Now the party wants to have a say again. That is justified. Nor is it a mistake to remind Robert Habeck that a one-man show by the resurgent Green party leader is not what is now moving the Greens forward.
Robert Habeck as a solo dancer – that would be a declaration of bankruptcy
It is also correct, however, that a distribution of posts as it is now being announced, including a possible vice-chancellorship for Robert Habeck, would not be anything but surprising. Annalena Baerbock had the courage to stand for the highest government office apply. That was right, with all the risks and wounds she and her party took. Because an election campaign in which only male candidates for chancellor speak and the Greens also submit to stereotypical role expectations would have been unbearable for the country and incompatible with green principles. At the same time, however, it is a matter of fairness to give the non-chancellor candidate Robert Habeck first access to a government office, including vice-chancellorship, should it be available.
Anyone who wants to share power fairly between the sexes must also do so when a woman is formally number one, even if only temporarily, as in the Baerbock case. That must not mean, however, that the formation of a government is now taking place what the Greens avoided when they ran for chancellor: that the gentlemen settle the questions of power among themselves. It is a question of Green credibility that Annalena Baerbock will continue to be primarily responsible for the Greens, for hard core issues such as the economy, the climate, and foreign policy. In the end, handing over the women and family minister to her, as has been the norm up to now, and the big stage to the solo dancer Robert Habeck, that would be a green declaration of bankruptcy.
Where did the women actually end up in the FDP and SPD?
At this point, however, it may also be asked where the potential government partners of the Greens actually hid their spokespersons. When it comes to gender equality, the FDP is like a tobacco college of the century before last. With Andrea Nahles, Katarina Barley, Manuela Schwesig and Franziska Giffey, the SPD has lost its most important women from federal politics. After the departure of Angela Merkel, there is no politician in sight of any significant influence in the Union. But that is unacceptable. The next government must be one of the future, and not just on issues of climate and finance, digitalization and immigration. It must deliver on the promise of a new beginning when it comes to gender equality as well. Otherwise she doesn’t even have to compete.