It wasn’t long ago that there was a duel between the CSU and the Greens in the state parliament. In the last electoral period, things sometimes felt like they were on a level playing field, even though the governing party had twice as many MPs as the then opposition leader. When Markus Söder made government declarations, for example, Katharina Schulze or Ludwig Hartmann, both parliamentary group leaders of the Green Party, were immediately allowed to take the lectern. The black-green exchange of blows was widely received in the media. In the state elections, the Greens lost 3.2 percentage points and are now only in fourth place among the parties. And now? Stuck in the attention hole.
Example: December, Prime Minister Söder presents his government program in the plenary session, longer than expected. Then it is the turn of the AfD as the strongest opposition force. You have to listen to Katrin Ebner-Steiner simply so that you don’t miss conceivable provocations and scandals. Afterwards, the CSU emerges as the strongest party, and parliamentary group leader Klaus Holetschek – in contrast to his predecessor – at least appears rhetorically pointed. And then, according to the perception, the Greens will come. With the best will in the world, one cannot speak of a confrontation with the Prime Minister given such a long distance and a shorter speaking time.
On Thursday, the Green parliamentary group begins its two-day winter retreat, now under the solo leadership of Katharina Schulze. Before we go on an excursion to the community of Pullach near Munich on Friday – topics on energy, geothermal energy and economics – an internal retreat is scheduled. It should be about the strategic positioning for the legislative period, including communication, appearance and conveying topics in the country. “We are the only remaining progressive force in Bavaria that can still be heard. We are working on becoming more present again,” said parliamentary group leader Schulze before the meeting. A bit of a nice dig at the struggling SPD, by the way.
A strategy is therefore needed to be better perceived again with the work in the state parliament, indeed throughout the country. And not just as a declared opponent of almost all other parties and as a target of social upheavals, such as farmers’ protests and heating laws. And not just defensively, when frustration with green reform zeal in the federal government demands resistance. But about “forward movement,” as can be heard in Green circles. And with fewer “faces” for outside. Due to the shrunken parliamentary group, several areas of the country are no longer directly represented by Green MPs. This is a problem even in Upper Bavaria, where almost all of the 14 MPs come from Munich and the surrounding area.
It is a problem that is currently affecting both the parliamentary group and the regional association. In just over a week there will be counter-candidates for both chairmen at a party conference in Lindau. And here, too, the debates are about the right way to “address” people, especially in rural areas, about modern communication, in short: attention beyond your own bubble.
The BR24 Bavaria trend from Wednesday only estimated the Greens at 13 percent, again less than the 14.4 percent in the state elections in October. The party is probably slowly reaching a kind of core electorate beyond which there is currently practically nothing to be gained in the Free State. The Bavarian Greens have to come up with something. It starts with symbols: The logo of the state parliamentary group has been spruced up; white and blue diamonds now adorn some of the leaves of the yellow sunflower.