portrait
Status: 08.02.2023 4:43 p.m
Bettina Jarasch wants to become the governing mayor of Berlin for the Green Party and also want to make the world a better place. But during the election campaign she has to realize that the wind is rough – and not everyone understands her.
“Courage to change!” she calls from the stage in Berlin-Schoeneberg. Bettina Jarasch, the Green Party’s top candidate, is in campaign mode. The 54-year-old with dark curls, a green scarf and an accent that betrays her Bavarian origins wants to become the governing mayor of Berlin. The speech is decisive, you can tell she means business. The studied philosopher and committed Catholic is a believer. She speaks of a better world and she is convinced that this can only be achieved with major climate policy changes.
Here at the Winterfeldmarkt in Schöneberg, the election campaign is easy for her. “I’ve already voted, green of course,” assures a market visitor. The educated middle-class Green voters like to go shopping here. There is regional fruit and vegetables, spicy cheese, olive oil – often expensive and of high quality. It’s a home game for Jarasch, she often laughs when she talks to the market visitors, they smile back. Your flyers will be gladly accepted.
But even here in the “we-everyone-vote-green-idyll” things can get uncomfortable. “What’s great about war?” a woman suddenly asks. Then she grumbles about the alleged enthusiasm for the war among the Greens.
“Nothing’s Great About War”
Jarasch wrestles with himself briefly. “There’s nothing great about war,” she says, patiently explaining that the only way to do it is to use weapons against Putin. Two days later, a similar situation arises. “War mongers,” someone calls out to her – and just keeps going. Not everyone at the grassroots likes what the political leadership of the Greens is doing. Jarasch has to experience that too.
In any case: there is no mercy in the election campaign, and the tone between her and the governing mayor Franziska Giffey is becoming rougher. That’s actually no wonder, because Jarasch, who is currently the mayor for the environment, mobility, consumer and climate protection, wants to oust Giffey at the top. But the fact that the two have to rule together at the same time makes it complicated. You lead the red-green-red coalition with Klaus Lederer from the left.
That means: During the day they sit together in the committees, are condemned to work together, but at discussion events, scraps fly. This is what happened at the meeting at the Chamber of Industry and Commerce. Giffey clearly distanced himself from the green plans to halve the number of parking spaces. Whereupon Jarasch accused her of apparently wanting to change coalition partners at will. A brief battle of words followed, which also shows that there are rifts between the two top candidates.
Head to head race
The CDU is currently leading by far. But after that it’s a neck-and-neck race. In surveys, Giffey and Jarasch are only slightly apart, sometimes Giffey is ahead of Jarasch, sometimes vice versa. Since the Christian Democrats may not have a coalition partner, the two politicians will probably fight for Berlin’s leadership among themselves.
When Giffey campaigns, people come up to her and tell her about her mother who needs care, or that she had to wait six months at the town hall for a wedding date. That doesn’t happen so easily to Jarasch, she seems friendly and approachable, but also academic and distant.
Your thesis that a progressive climate policy with waste heat and renewable energies can also overcome the social divide does not immediately make sense to everyone. But everyone understands that the Greens want fewer and fewer cars in the city. The political opponent likes to use this, as the CDU’s top candidate Kai Wegner puts it: “We won’t let the car be banned.”
The back and forth around the prestigious Friedrichstraße is brought out again and again by the opponent. 500 meters of the street became a pedestrian zone in the middle of the election campaign. This means that Friedrichstrasse is closed to both car traffic and cyclists. Instead of cars, there is seating and greenery. The section had already been blocked against the will of numerous traders. Then a court order forced the road to reopen. Now it is sealed again at the instigation of Jarasch. Apparently, she wanted to push through the car-free Friedrichstrasse by hook or by crook.
No place for ecological issues
During the election campaign in Marzahn-Hellersdorf, Jarasch meets people for whom the car is not an issue because they cannot afford it. The Red Cross distributes food and a long line forms. The top candidate greets you in a friendly manner, those waiting greet you back, but they don’t seem to know who she is or they have other worries. A woman tells her that she lost her gloves. Jarasch believes that there are some at the front of the stand. You’ve also seen scarves and coats. This time, in addition to food, clothing from employees of the district office will also be donated. They went through their own closets.
Jarasch is touched by this commitment. She grabs a box full of apples and hands them out, emphasizing how healthy they are. Then she talks to the volunteers, she praises the fact that they sacrifice their free time, she talks about sharing and that it simply makes you happier. She’s in her element there. The difference between rich and poor obviously bothers her. That doesn’t seem the right place for global ecological issues.
She sees the fact that she has to campaign again after just over a year of work in the governing coalition as an exceptional situation. Hard for everyone, she says. But she is getting closer to her goal of becoming Governing Mayor of Berlin much earlier than expected.