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Franziska Brantner in the Bundestag
Photo:
Christophe Gateau / dpa
The Bundestag member Franziska Brantner withdraws from the competition for the Greens chairmanship.
She announced this on request.
At the same time, she officially confirmed a SPIEGEL report from mid-November that she had decided to apply for party leadership.
Brantner becomes Parliamentary State Secretary at the new Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate, which the Greens leader Robert Habeck is to head.
It was also announced on Thursday that the previous political director of the Greens, Michael Kellner, and parliamentary deputy Oliver Krischer, will also work in Habeck's ministry in the future.
Candidate would still be conceivable
As Parliamentary State Secretary, Brantner could theoretically still run for the presidency.
The Greens' statutes exclude that members of the federal or state government also lead the party.
Unlike civil servants, parliamentary state secretaries do not belong to the government.
Brantner announced that she wanted to concentrate on her new job.
The field of seriously traded candidates has been reduced to two names for the time being: the previous deputy party chairman Ricarda Lang and the foreign politician and member of the Bundestag Omid Nouripour.
Ricarda Lang has so far not officially announced her candidacy for the chairmanship of the Greens;
but it is taken for granted that she will compete.
Omid Nouripour, on the other hand, announced during the recording of the program "Markus Lanz" that he wanted to apply for the chairmanship.
Habeck and Annalena Baerbock, who have been at the top of the party for almost four years, will be giving up their offices in January.
Both will also occupy a federal ministry and are therefore no longer formally considered as chairmen.