analysis
The Greens have re-elected their party leadership with high approval ratings. The party conference in Karlsruhe nevertheless shows that times are complicated for the eco-party – and not just because of the budget crisis.
Karlsruhe. It is the city in which the Green Party was founded as a party 43 years ago. And it is the city in which a court ruling was made nine days ago that also poses major challenges for the Greens. Ultimately, the traffic light government alone is missing 60 billion euros, which was earmarked in particular for the climate-friendly restructuring of the economy.
Now the party is sitting here at its federal delegates conference and is discussing the possible consequences. “There is no room for argument,” says a delegate from Rhineland-Palatinate. “In times of crisis, the Greens come together particularly closely.”
In fact, the mood at halftime of the party conference seems surprisingly peaceful: While the grassroots expressed their displeasure with the Greens’ compromises within the federal government in an open letter, hardly any discord has been heard at the meeting itself. “We are fully aware of the seriousness of the situation,” explains a delegate from Thuringia.
Habeck is used to more approval
The seriousness of the situation has been particularly evident in the face of Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck in recent days. The constitutional judges’ ruling hit him and his ministry with full force, as his climate projects in particular are in jeopardy. And so a serious Robert Habeck appears at this Green Party conference. He wears a jacket on opening day, not a half-unbuttoned shirt like he normally does.
Habeck speaks of the “turned time” – his term for the Chancellor’s “turning point” – of a green ideology that is called reality. It is the philosopher Habeck who appears at this party conference. He reads his speech and keeps getting confused. Complicated political times probably do not allow for free speech, which Habeck is otherwise so good at.
But he also becomes striking when he talks about the debt brake and calls Germany a boxer who goes into battle and has voluntarily tied his hands behind his back. Habeck is sure to receive applause, he is still one of the stars for the Greens. But he is used to more approval; the euphoria and optimism seem to be curbed in Karlsruhe.
Frank words from Lang
These are difficult times for the Greens. The party cannot advance heartfelt projects as it would like. The Greens’ record in the two traffic light years is mixed – which may also be a reason for the weak survey results.
Co-party leader Ricarda Lang practices self-criticism in her application speech for re-election. She often slipped into technocratic behavior when the party was in trouble. “What’s on people’s minds at the moment, what they’re feeling, has taken a back seat. That shouldn’t happen to us as a party,” admits Lang. Perhaps it is such open words that bring her a decent result: 82.3 percent of the delegates voted for Lang.
Her colleague at the top of the party, Omid Nouripour, got 79.1 percent. However, he had an opponent. “It was a grueling two years,” says Nouripour about his work so far as Green Party leader. “But the two harder ones are still to come.”
The old and new party leaders make it clear that they want to root the Greens as a centrist party and not turn them into a “one-issue party” – against all the headwinds that the Greens are currently experiencing.
No top Green politician is having an easy time. Some are plagued by budgetary worries and shaky future projects, others by the complicated world situation. Annalena Baerbock brings impressions of a Federal Foreign Minister to this party conference, a Foreign Minister in crisis mode. She tells about the fates of the people in Israel whom she met on her travels to the region.
When Baerbock spoke late on Thursday evening, it was absolutely quiet in the still well-occupied hall. Everyone is glued to the minister’s lips as she describes her impressions in a stately manner, with emotional words and a serious face. The people of Israel would never be able to live in safety “if this terror is not combated,” says Baerbock.
A dark cloud over the conference
She knows which rhetorical devices are effective. The party congress finally passes a motion from the federal executive committee entitled “Solidarity with Israel: For peace, against hatred and terror.” And unanimously. At the start of this party conference, the main topics to be discussed are the undisputed topics.
One party is united in stating that times are difficult, but that they are likely to get better again. The judgment on budget policy from November 15th – it hovers like a dark cloud over the Federal Delegates Conference. It was felled just a few kilometers from the location of this event. The shadow of Karlsruhe.