The Greens have duped the Union with a smooth chancellor freestyle.
But the party does not want to be a "snap club" - fights threaten.
Also about posts.
The Greens are remarkably united in the federal election campaign.
But even for Annalena Baerbock's pollster there are internally controversial points.
There could be a substantive dispute at the party congress - and ministerial posts are also being debated.
With our new politics newsletter you always stay up to date.
Berlin / Munich - There is a lot going on in German politics. It might seem as if the Greens and the Union are swapping roles. Not in terms of content, but in terms of appearance: On the one hand, the former “Chancellor's electoral association”, which is entangled in wing battles and could continue to do so - keywords Maassen and Saxony-Anhalt. On the other hand, the former “anti-party” party, split into Fundis and Realos for decades, which is absolutely free of misunderstandings - and practically in Söder's back room, as was suspected on TV - is putting together a freestyle candidate for Chancellor.
Is the general election almost already over?
green wave to the Chancellery?
Possible, but anything but agreed.
Because good polls and a power perspective usually have a unifying effect in a representative democracy.
But possible lines of conflict can already be seen among the new, state-supporting Greens.
For example, the
taz,
which is traditionally close to the Greens,
already reported on possible disputes over the distribution of ministerial posts at the weekend.
And about the side effects of the strict line of unity.
The party leadership has already admitted a first small mistake.
Greens in front of many open questions: The struggle for posts has already begun - who comes to Baerbock, Habeck, Hofreiter?
Voters actually know the quarrel about offices and regional proportional representation mainly from the “people's parties”, such as the CSU in Bavaria. But in the event of an election victory, Annalena Baerbock's Greens will probably also bloom similar debates. This is probably less about geography than about the gender distribution - and about the decades-old struggle between left-wing Fundis and pragmatically-minded Reallos. The Greens have given up the fundamental opposition to the government - and demonstratively also to military operations. But when it comes to power, conflicts could flare up again.
According to the
taz,
Baerbock and co-boss Robert Habeck, who “stepped back” in pain,
are deemed to have been
set for any ministerial posts in the Federal Cabinet - two unrealistic.
Fractional leader Anton Hofreiter is also in a good position as a fund and eco-expert.
But behind that it will be "exciting".
Specifically, the paper names Katrin Göring-Eckardt and ex-party leader Cem Özdemir as other candidates.
The problem: The left-wing Greens have already filed claims - and both Göring-Eckardt and Özdemir do not belong in this party stream.
A leftist woman would be wanted for the cabinet.
Baerbock's Greens and the problems of striving for power: Left taunts after Maassen-freestyle
In other places, too, the party is feeling the pitfalls of political life within the reach of power. In Baden-Württemberg there was initially displeasure with the will of its own Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann to continue Grün-Schwarz instead of trying a possibly more socially liberal traffic light. There was even a small trial of strength in the state executive. In the end, the party rallied behind its figurehead Kretschmann.
But painful coalition compromises could also threaten after the general election.
Not just programmatically.
The left in the Bundestag - some of which are aiming for a green-red-red alliance as a power perspective - are already teasing.
Most recently with a view to the dispute over the hard-right CDU direct candidate Hans-Georg Maaßen.
“With the nomination of Maaßen, the option of a black-green government should really come to an end.
Now is the time to talk seriously about progressive options and to advertise for them, ”said its parliamentary director Jan Korte at the weekend.
At least parts of the Fundi wing are likely to have to nibble at the personnel.
Greens: Closed and grassroots democracy at the same time?
Party leadership admits "overreaction" in the spring
After the mini-scandal in Baden-Württemberg, Kretschmann assured that the Greens were “not a nod off club”.
In fact, the contentious dispute - which can also be seen at the Green Party Congress at the end of 2020 - can also be interpreted as a democratic strength.
But the party leadership seemed to be tending to take a tough stance against critics as early as the spring.
At the beginning of the year, a small grassroots group criticized the plan to even elect a candidate for chancellor.
There was a tough opposition from party headquarters.
Greens Federal Managing Director Michael Kellner
was alienated in a public response at the time.
"In doing so, you are ignoring the unity that has been praised and contradicting the team spirit.
It doesn't go together, ”he reprimanded from Berlin.
In an interview with the
taz
,
Kellner admitted
that they had "overreacted a bit".
Apparently, there is a very fine line between grassroots democracy and unity.
That will continue to apply: According to information from the newspaper, there are already hundreds of amendments for the party's relatively mainstream election manifesto.
It remains to be seen whether Habeck and Baerbock can all swear to government.
Another initiative from the ranks of the Greens was hardly noticed at the beginning of April: 30 party members - including the mayor of Berlin, Boris Palmer, who was not very well liked in Berlin - spoke out in a public appeal against “cancel culture” and “left identity politics”, such as that Portal
queer.de
reported.
A tricky field for the Greens.
There were no signatures from the party leadership, nor was there any internal-party debate.
Possibly to the relief of the Green bosses - the SPD leaders had publicly insisted in a similar case in a less advantageous manner.
The same goes for the left.
Greens in the election campaign: donations are gushing - but there is a threat of an “all against us” election campaign
With all threatening sources of conflict: For the time being, however, the party is on the rise. This has been the case for the polls for the federal election since April. But also for aspects that are not entirely irrelevant, such as membership numbers and party donations. Since Baerbock's nomination as candidate for chancellor, there have been more than 3,700 new entrants, Kellner told Die
Welt am Sonntag
. “We are now over 110,000 members.” Despite the high altitude frenzy, the Greens around Baerbock fear a survey crash, as
reported by 24hamburg.de *
.
According to him, the donations in the super election year 2021 also exceed expectations. Kellner said the party was hoping for 700,000 euros. "Now we are at two and a half million euros, including large donations, but also a lot of smaller amounts," said Kellner. The election campaign budget can now be increased. “We are currently planning a total of 12 million euros.” That is about twice as much as in 2017. Five-digit sums are to go to the regional associations in Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where state elections are still pending this year. So the field is in purely financial terms.
However, leading Greens expect a rock-hard election campaign even with plenty of donations.
"I believe that the camp election campaign will be redefined this time: all against us," said Parliamentary Managing Director Britta Haßelmann of the
taz
.
(
fn with material from AFP
).
* Merkur.de and 24hamburg.de are offers from IPPEN.MEDIA.
List of rubric lists: © Matthias Rietschel / www.imago-images.de
