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Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock: The image of the heartless price driver can be dangerous for the party
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Michael Kappeler / dpa
Sometimes even a plus feels like a bankruptcy.
At least that was the case with the Greens on Sunday.
The successful eco party won 5.9 percent in the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt.
That is 0.7 points more than in 2016.
Only: At that time, the Greens were still a small party in the federal government, in the polls they were just in the double-digit range.
Now, five years later, they are twice as strong, are fighting for first place in the republic and want to go to the Chancellery.
Actually.
The question of why the Greens did not move forward despite the new claims in Saxony-Anhalt is still a matter for the federal party days after the election.
A pure landing effect?
Or more?
Something that Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock should also be concerned about?
At the beginning of the week, Federal Managing Director Michael Kellner gave an interview to SPIEGEL.
In it, he describes the lessons that the Greens should draw from the election.
What he says makes you sit up and take notice.
It's about nothing less than a course correction on the way to the federal election.
"We have to penetrate more deeply into the issue of social equilibrium in climate protection."
Greens Federal Managing Director Kellner
"We have to get more involved with the issue of social equality in climate protection," said Kellner.
And: »We have to bring the full breadth of our issues to the people - social policy, the minimum wage, our plans to create good and adequate jobs.
Or an education that won't let the little ones down. "
Social.
Minimum wage.
Job.
Are the Greens now red in the election campaign?
The first euphoria after the chancellor candidate's free choice has long since faded away, and the past few weeks have since been extremely bumpy for the Greens.
There was anger about Baerbock's résumé and her extra income.
There were pale TV appearances and the argument with party troublemaker Boris Palmer.
The biggest problems for the Greens were probably the content-related attacks of the competition.
These are attacks that have what it takes to permanently damage the image of the Greens.
They target the party's social profile.
With the Greens and their climate policy, that is the story of their opponents, many things will become more expensive, even for people on a tight budget.
The criticism is aimed primarily at the plans of the eco-party to increase CO2 prices.
Baerbock recently calculated what these mean for fuel costs: 16 cents more per liter of gasoline.
Since then, the Greens have been under constant fire.
"Anyone who just keeps turning the fuel price screw shows how indifferent they care about the needs of the citizens," said SPD Chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz.
Criticism from within our own ranks
Of course, the Greens have reason to feel that they have been treated unfairly.
Because Scholz 'SPD, the Union and also the FDP want to increase the CO2 price.
The Groko introduced it herself.
The Greens also have to put up with the accusation of additional burdens, but with their "energy money" they are also making a suggestion as to how this could be cushioned at least halfway socially.
So far there has been no question of this in the case of the Union, for example.
But the election campaign is often less about program details than about the overall narrative: How does a party appear?
What are the priorities?
What do people associate with her?
An image of heartless price drivers could be dangerous for the Greens.
Some in the party believe that the Greens must do more to counter the images of their opponents.
In the current debates about the end of combustion engines, power generation from lignite or short-haul flights, there has been a lack of concepts so far that "ensure that change is not carried out on the backs of wage earners," wrote Anna Peters and Georg Kurz, the two heads of the Greens Youth, in a position paper.
The Green MEP Rasmus Andresen is even clearer: "Our program represents the interests of people on low incomes," he says.
"Even if our Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock shows a clear edge, we as a party have not yet succeeded in communicating our justice program in an easily understandable way."
Slogans that are too radical could scare off bourgeois voters.
There is an accusation that has accompanied the Greens leadership for a long time: that in case of doubt they prefer to remain vague when it comes to the left-wing components of their program.
At least one hears comparatively seldom flaming arguments from Baerbock and Habeck for wealth tax, minimum wage, citizens' insurance or against Hartz IV.
The Greens also vehemently refuse to make a coalition statement, although they apparently only share their socio-political goals with the SPD and the Left Party.
The reason: The Greens are targeting middle-class voters, the more liberal Merkel supporters, who may now doubt whether they should vote for the Union again.
Overly radical slogans could scare them off.
That's the worry.
At the same time, the past few weeks have shown that accusations of anti-social or simply too radical climate policy can also damage the party.
Many Greens argue that the climate crisis harms the poor and precarious the most, so climate protection and social issues are not opposites, but belong together anyway.
Some therefore fear that it could be risky to even enter into this distinction in public controversy.
It's a balancing act, and it is unclear whether it can succeed.
Sharpen communicative skills
If it were up to the Green Youth, a clear turn to the left would have to come about - including redistribution, far-reaching guarantees for workers and the unemployed, or a minimum wage that again significantly exceeds the 12 euros from the draft election program.
Now, as is well known, the youth organization is one of the left fringe of the Greens.
But after statements by Federal Managing Director Kellner at the latest, it is foreseeable that the Greens will actually sharpen social policy again - in any case communicatively.
But maybe also in terms of content.
How far the party is prepared to move to the left in terms of public image will be shown by the party conference at the weekend.
"With our program, we are making an offer to those who, despite hard work, are stuck in poverty wages or are in a difficult life situation due to illness or separation," says EU parliamentarian Andresen.
The Greens would have to make that clear at the weekend.
There are several applications on the table to sharpen the Green program, for example about the minimum wage or about Hartz IV. An example: Sven Lehmann, Member of the Green Party, calls for the standard rate to be raised to around 600 euros.
The previous draft is not limited to any specific amount.
But one thing would still not be clear: How aggressively Baerbock integrated such positions into their campaign after the party congress.
