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Green bosses Baerbock, Habeck
Photo: Kay Nietfeld / dpa
Oh, the Greens are very relieved about the outcome of this CDU chairman election.
In any case, that seems to be the message of the many public green congratulations that the new party leader Armin Laschet received in the hours after his election, especially on Twitter.
The Greens bosses Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck, the political managing director Michael Kellner, the parliamentary group leader Katrin Göring-Eckardt, the former party chairman Cem Özdemir: Whatever has rank and name among the Greens, congratulated the new incumbent.
If it had been Merz, the number of well-wishers might have been lower.
Most Merkel-like in habit
Although there had been the hypothesis in advance that a candidate for Chancellor Friedrich Merz would be the easier opponent for the Greens in the upcoming federal election, he would also have meant a greater risk for the party.
The Merkel voters, who would have turned away from a Merz Union, would not necessarily have ended up with the Greens.
You could also have opted for the SPD and the rock solid but brittle Olaf Scholz.
In terms of habit, he is the closest to the Chancellor of all possible candidates for Chancellor.
Why do Habeck and Laschet distance themselves from black and green?
In contrast to Merz, Laschet stands for business as usual.
In his application speech he said that the Union can only win "if we remain strong in the middle of society".
The Greens also want to be in the middle, but they have to make the middle want to change in the election campaign.
Merz would have stood for a break.
In such a tense situation, the good mood election campaign that the Greens envision would have been difficult to convey.
In recent weeks, Laschet has tried to distance himself from the Greens.
That should also come in handy for the party, because the Greens definitely do not want to lead a camp election campaign together with the Union.
It should not appear as if black and green are set.
Although at the beginning of this year everything is pointing to it, not just the solid majority in the polls.
wish and reality
Habeck said at the end of November that he would prefer to govern with the SPD.
And Laschet recently stated that his favorite coalition is one between the CDU and FDP.
Well
The current polls give neither the one nor the other desired coalition.
Even if these should be authentic wishes, they are always strategically placed in order not to scare off the respective regular clientele.
Greens feel flattered by the CDU
With his rhetoric of demarcation for the Greens, Laschet would be easier to deal with as a candidate for chancellor than CSU boss Markus Söder.
The Bavarian Prime Minister left little doubt that he would want to govern with the Greens, of course they should then be junior partners.
In the SPIEGEL double talk with Habeck, he said that black-green is currently "the most interesting political offer."
The Greens find it difficult to break away from the hugs.
But they have to do this if they want to convey credibly that they not only want to become the Union's new coalition partner, but actually challenge it.
The Greens' stated goal is to become the strongest force in the country.
They themselves doubt that they will manage it. The Union parties have long identified them as the main opponent.
The Greens are threatening to dispute the Union's famous political center.
There was hardly a speech at the digital CDU party congress without a reference to it.
Laschet warned urgently against red-red-green, so the "decade of modernization" could not be achieved.
CDU General Secretary Paul Ziemiak said it could be that one would have to negotiate with the Greens after the election, but then the Greens would have to "swallow more bucks in the coalition negotiations" than they would have "carried across the street."
This is flattering for the Greens.
You, currently the smallest opposition party in the Bundestag, are met by the CDU Chancellor Party on an equal footing.
They find it hard to hide the joy of it.
Özdemir, who sat together with Laschet in the legendary black and green Bonn pizza connection back in the nineties, responded to Ziemiak's saying with the hashtag »teamkrötenwanderung«.
Bad election campaigns start differently.
It is not yet clear whether Laschet, Söder or possibly Health Minister Jens Spahn will lead the Union in the election campaign.
Strategically, this is likely to be of secondary importance for the Greens.
All three offer friction surfaces, but the Greens could forge a black-green alliance with all of them without any problems.
Now there is only one thing left between the Greens and government participation: the choice.
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