What is the relationship between the Greens and their leadership? The party must clarify this question in the midst of the serious government crisis. The party conference turns into a show of strength with unexpected potential for escalation. In the end there is a lot of self-assurance – and the only coalition partner whose loyalty to the traffic lights does not waver.
The fir-green stage stretches across the football field-wide hall of the Karlsruhe Trade Fair. The darker color in the Green logo is not a concession to the approaching Christmas season, but is intended to convey a new self-image as a responsible party to the outside world. The party leadership has abandoned the garish green of days gone by and is trying to further anchor the Greens in the political center in terms of program and demeanor. At the four-day party conference, not all delegates went along and saw the core of what defines the Greens as being betrayed.
But when Robert Habeck on Saturday evening hyped up a vote on the Greens’ participation in further tightening of asylum laws into a question of confidence about remaining in the traffic light coalition and assumed that the Green Youth would receive a “vote of no confidence”, the fronts were quickly clarified: an overwhelming majority of delegates also supported this , the question that divides the base, its government representatives and the federal executive board. The Greens definitely want to continue governing.
The Greens are stable
This signal is not without meaning for the government parties in the federal government: the traffic light faces difficult weeks due to the budget crisis. She is looking for a way to compensate for the 60 billion euros collected by the Federal Constitutional Court for climate and investment programs. The FDP, which is worried about its return to the Bundestag, will probably have to ask its own members about remaining in the government. According to current polls, the SPD is in danger of losing a third of its mandates, which is why a possible switch to the grand coalition invites thought games. The non-relationship between Olaf Scholz and Friedrich Merz and his calls for a dismantling of the welfare state prevent such considerations from escalating into serious speculation – at least for now.
But the Greens, as was clear at the federal party conference, want to stick to the traffic lights: their members and voters want to remain and in the polls the party is at a constant 13 to 15 percent, at the same level as the federal election results. That is a long way from any of the Chancellor’s ambitions, but unlike the current approval ratings of the SPD and FDP, it would not be a fall into the abyss. Accordingly, apart from the newly elected spokespersons of the Green Youth, no significant voice in the party dared to rebel.
Only a few speeches by officials and delegates were directed against the coalition partners. Instead, from Habeck – he called Friedrich Merz a “party leader from the day before yesterday” – to the grassroots representative, a striking number of speakers worked their way to the CDU leader.
Surprisingly uncritical
Habeck and the other federal ministers are entering the difficult budget negotiations with a maximum of legroom. This support opens up space for compromises. Olaf Scholz and Christian Lindner will have noticed this carefully. The extent of Green pragmatism, far removed from previous camp struggles and wild debates, may be interpreted by critics from both inside and outside the party as conformity or even a lust for power. The Green Party calls it creative will and realism.
In fact, the level of lack of criticism is sometimes surprising: the party has experienced heavy state election defeats and is experiencing more headwinds from public opinion than ever. The base is visibly concerned that election campaigns, especially in the East, but not only there, repeatedly experience hostility and physical attacks. The answers to this precarious situation from chairmen Ricarda Lang and Omid Nouripour as well as Federal Managing Director Emily Büning are sparse. “I want to see you all on the streets next year,” Lang calls out undaunted to those gathered, with a view to the European, state and local elections. Büning announces coaching seminars against hostility. Lang and Nouripour as well as Büning, who often appear to be a good-mood duo, are confirmed for another term in office with scores of around 80 percent each.
A show of strength from a party conference
Under pressure from outside, the Greens are once again closing ranks. The party leadership interprets the attacks, including those from coalition partners at the federal and state levels, as evidence of their own potential for success. “We are disrupting the middle because we are in the middle, because we have changed it,” said Robert Habeck in his acclaimed speech on Friday evening. What helps: The attacks from frontline organizations from the environmental, climate and human rights sectors, which visibly unsettled the party during the Lützerath debate, have become fewer. Despite all their disappointment, the associations and activists have no alternative political force that would make them indifferent to the fate of Alliance90/The Greens.
Nevertheless, even in Karlsruhe, parts of the left wing of the party – and especially the members of the Green Youth – have stomach ache with the course of their party. When it comes to migration, they can negotiate many of their desired changes into the European election program.
The party has also retained its moments of anarchy elsewhere: the composition of the European election list, which has already been orchestrated from above by other parties, is sometimes wild. The grassroots are actively involved in formulating the European election program until late into the night. There is no wording in the Federal Executive Board’s proposal that is too detailed not to be debated. A four-digit number of amendments find their way into the original text in one way or another. The mammoth four-day party conference is a feat of strength, during which even managing director Büning temporarily loses faith in being able to complete all of the program items.
A somewhat surprising conflict arose on Saturday over the planned EU trade agreement with the Mercosur states: following the advocacy of Bundestag members Kathrin Henneberger and Karl Bär, 53 percent of the delegates voted for an amendment according to which the party would reject the almost fully negotiated agreement. A defeat for Habeck, his State Secretary Franziska Brantner and parliamentary group leader Katharina Dröge, who have invested a lot of energy in anchoring more environmental and social standards in the contract.
The agreement will therefore not fail due to the vote of the Green Party base. Those who are dissatisfied and doubtful still achieve respectable success. However, their rebellion against the traffic light’s asylum policy fails in the face of the threatening party leadership. The fact that the Green Party leadership is throwing everything into it with their maximum threat of a coalition breakup is an indication of their own uncertainty about how far the base will follow them. The party conference in Karlsruhe answered this question. Whether the fir-green self-assurance also strengthens the wavering traffic light will be clarified in Berlin.