Baerbock-Habeck successor only "poor relatives"?

Expert warns the Greens of a “structural” problem

Created: 01/28/2022 10:29 am

By: Marc Beyer

The Greens reorganize themselves at their party conference.

With government responsibility comes a change at the top.

The next management duo expects a changed job profile.

Munich – Unofficially, the change has long since taken place.

Robert Habeck and Annalena Baerbock are more than busy protecting the climate, boosting the economy and preventing war.

Leading a party on top of that is difficult - and not at all desirable for the Greens, who strictly separate government and party offices.

The role of the still incumbent chairmen was only an issue when it came to the controversial bonus payments for 2020.

This weekend, the Greens will officially complete the conversion at the top.

Party Vice Ricarda Lang and foreign politician Omid Nouripour are ready to succeed him.

You will lead a party that has government responsibility at the federal level for the first time in 16 years.

Baerbock and Habeck go: New Green tip threatens comeback of an old problem

For the future chairmen, this means a changed job profile. Unlike Habeck and Baerbock, it's no longer about "pulling the engine as a management duo," Nouripour knows. It is much more important "that we all keep the business running together and play a pivotal role between volunteers and full-time employees".

However, it can also crunch in the hinges. The Greens have already established that a leading post in a governing party does not necessarily mean leadership strength. Giessen political scientist Hubert Kleinert, himself once head of state in Hesse, recalls the early days of the red-green party. The party leadership was like the “poor relatives”, cut off from “important information flows”. That doesn't have to be repeated, but this weak point is "structurally created" in the Greens.

The chairmen at the time were Gunda Röstel and Antje Radcke, and Vice-Chancellor Joschka Fischer was in the government.

When he left the Bundestag in 2006, Omid Nouripour succeeded him.

He also comes from the Hessian state association and has made a name for himself as a foreign politician.

Nouripour does not lack clarity in his comments on autocratic states.

He knows what he's talking about there.

At the age of 13 he fled Iran with his family.

He is supported by Lang, a candidate who is only 28 but has been on the board for two years as a vice president.

The digital format suits her.

She has been suffering from Corona since Wednesday.

Farewell mood: Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck with the Greens.

© Hendrik Schmidt/zb/dpa

Green in the modern age: compromises are not always welcome - speed limit in mind

In Bavaria, the date is eagerly awaited, not only because after Habeck and Baerbock a “new era” begins, as Katharina Schulze calls it.

The parliamentary group leader, who is running again for the party council, expects the future leadership duo to "closely interlock party, parliamentary group and countries".

Lang and Nouripour are faced with the task of "thinking programmatically beyond the government".

Bavaria's green impulses in particular are hoping for this and a pooling of forces.

A new state parliament will be elected next year.

Schulze in the Free State has already seen regularly how the grassroots view of the party has changed since the fall.

Not everything that was on the election program ended up being included in the coalition agreement.

When it comes to the climate, there are just as many wishes left unfulfilled as when it comes to social justice or the classic.

"Why didn't you enforce the speed limit?" she sometimes hears.

"We didn't get 100 percent, but 14.8," she replies.

The political scientist Kleinert sees the greatest challenge for the party here.

"The eco-scene" in particular will always ask the question: "Is the glass half full or half empty?" Compromises are not always well received.

A heart issue of the Greens will remain.

"In four years at the latest," Nouripour promises, the speed limit will be back on the agenda.

Meanwhile, Economics Minister Habeck faced a government survey in the Bundestag on Wednesday.

In terms of content, difficult discussions emerged, including the energy crisis and the Ukraine/Russia conflict.

On Friday he went to the next sensitive appointment - a government statement.