Party conference in Karlsruhe: Lang sees reason for self-criticism among the Greens

At the Green Party conference in Karlsruhe, the main focus is likely to be on the question of how climate protection projects can still be financed after the budget ruling. Meanwhile, party leader Lang calls for a certain amount of self-criticism.

Immediately before the start of the party conference in Karlsruhe, which was overshadowed by the current budget crisis, Green Party leader Ricarda Lang also sees reason for self-criticism. “We should ask ourselves why some people are still prejudiced against us,” she told the news portal “t-online”. “We are not entirely innocent of this.”

The Greens are currently polling around 15 percent. According to co-party leader Omid Nouripour, the Greens also want to make “central decisions” on climate policy at the party conference, which lasts until Sunday.

How can core concerns still be financed?

At the party conference, which has the motto “Do what counts,” Lang and Nouripour are running for re-election. The Greens want to debate two emergency motions on migration and Israel. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is expected to give a speech on the Middle East conflict.

The question of how climate protection projects of the traffic light coalition and other core concerns of the Greens could now be financed after the Federal Constitutional Court’s budget ruling is likely to play an important role for the 825 delegates.

Long against cuts in social spending

Lang warned: “Cutting social spending is definitely the wrong approach. In times of crisis, more security and justice are needed, not less.” Suspending the debt brake is “a solution” that the coalition needs to talk about. She also called for a reform of the debt rule anchored in the Basic Law, for example through a clause to enable more investments.

The Federal Constitutional Court has declared a reallocation of 60 billion euros in the 2021 budget to be unconstitutional. The federal government is not allowed to use funds intended to combat the Corona crisis for other purposes. According to an initial assessment, other special funds such as the one for energy price brakes are also affected.

Nouripour told the “Augsburger Allgemeine” that it was the party’s historic task to bring prosperity, climate protection and justice together. The party conference will also provide “orientation on migration policy” and underline solidarity with Israel.

Climate Union calls for revision of the Climate Protection Act

The Union-affiliated Climate Union association called on the Greens to revise the climate protection law. In a letter to Lang and other leading party and parliamentary group representatives available to the German Press Agency, Climate Union chairman and CDU member of the Bundestag Thomas Heilmann suggests further development of the law in terms of the sector goals, the follow-up mechanisms and the role of the expert council.

The draft law introduced by the federal government stipulates that a new climate protection program will not be presented until the next legislative period. The traffic light therefore violates the Basic Law because climate protection should not be put off for a long time, warned Heilmann. 14 experts recently made similar statements in a Bundestag hearing. After the heating law and the climate fund, the traffic lights in the climate protection law risk the next defeat in Karlsruhe.

Kubicki demands more realism Migration policy

Meanwhile, deputy FDP chairman Wolfgang Kubicki called on his coalition partner to be more realistic in migration policy. The Greens’ approval to end payments for private sea rescue in the Mediterranean is “the first, small step out of the motley cloud cuckoo land towards a sensible migration policy,” said Kubicki. “I expect further energetic steps at the upcoming Federal Delegates Conference and an unequivocal confirmation of the latest federal-state agreements on migration.”