The German Greens are holding their congress from Thursday November 23 to Sunday November 26. If they want to take the opportunity to celebrate its fortieth anniversary, belatedly, but the time is not really for celebrations. Two years after their return to government, the environmentalists are doing badly, the Germans are ignoring them and the base is rebelling. Two years ago, however, German environmentalists were on cloud nine when they returned to power in Berlin.
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From our correspondent in Berlin,
For the Greens, the conclusion of a coalition with the social democrats of Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the liberal party allowed them to return to power after sixteen years. In 2021, the party recorded its best score since its founding in 1980 in national legislative elections, with nearly 15% of the votes. A few months earlier, however, he was doing much better.
The party then obtained five ministerial positions, including two essential ones: Foreign Affairs returned to Annalena Baerbock and the Economy and Climate Robert Habeck, also appointed vice-chancellor. The party wants to make a jump to ecological transition and promote societal issues.
Two difficult years and disappointments for activists and for the Germans
The two ministers Baerbock and Habeck – who led the Green party before taking up their new functions – are initially the darlings of the polls. But the war in Ukraine is forcing urgent changes, after the end of Russian gas deliveries. This file is managed first by the Minister of the Economy.
Electricity prices are rising, Germans are worried. The Greens are pushing the energy transition, notably with a poorly constructed heating modernization law which worries their compatriots. The image of a party of “prohibitions” sticks to its skin: many changes go down badly with voters who only dream of stability, especially after the pandemic, in the middle of the war in Ukraine and with the deterioration of the economic situation.
The Greens are losing ground in the polls with 13% today. They retreated during intermediate elections and left the executive of two regions this year. And in a three-way alliance, the Greens must accept painful compromise which blurs their profile and offends their base.
The voice of the discontent expected
These disgruntled troops could certainly make themselves heard during the congress which begins this afternoon. An open letter signed by a thousand members – out of the party’s 125,000 – regrets that the party is today ” an advertising agency for bad compromises “. However, until now it was synonymous with real transformations for the signatories. Environment, family allowances, gas from Qatar or toughening of migration policy : There are numerous criticisms against the party leadership and the government.
The pragmatists at the head of the movement will not be debunked but the debates could be heated.