Party leader practices self-criticism
Lang: Greens “not entirely innocent” of prejudices
November 23, 2023, 5:56 a.m
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The Greens meet at the party conference in Karlsruhe in difficult times. After the Federal Constitutional Court’s budget ruling, it is unclear how the Greens’ core concerns can be financed in the future. Demands for more climate protection come from an association close to the Union.
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 “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 is taking place this weekend under 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. 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. 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 new climate protection program
Meanwhile, 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, Climate Union chairman and CDU member of the Bundestag Thomas Heilmann suggests further development of the law in terms of sector goals, 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.
Before the party conference, 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.”