Status: 25.11.2023, 07:46 a.m.
By: Mark Stoffers
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At the Green Party Congress in Karlsruhe, Robert Habeck and Omid Nouripour strike a combative tone.
Karlsruhe – The Green Party Congress was not under a good star, also due to the budget crisis. But even apart from the debacle surrounding the Karlsruhe ruling, 2023 was a turbulent year for Alliance 90/The Greens in many respects. Although turbulent is probably an understatement. Robert Habeck's heating law, Annalena Baerbock's plane breakdown or the Graichen affair not only caused incomprehension among the population, but also low blow after low blow in the polls.
But instead of hunkering down at the party congress in Karlsruhe, the Greens, who, according to one expert, "carry around the image of the prohibition party", seem to strike a new tone and seek flight forward. Sharper, more pointed and more aggressive, the Green Party Congress could mark a turning point in the party's public image. In any case, Robert Habeck and co-chairman Omid Nouripour led the way in their speeches and made it clear that the long-standing announcement to no longer make attacks heard by contradicting them is obviously no longer valid.
Turning point at the Green Party Congress in Karlsruhe: Habeck and Nouripour attack Union and Friedrich Merz
Instead, the two politicians set the direction with their statements that the Greens will no longer sit back when attacked, but will react to attacks with clear and unambiguous words. "Guys, you are not even capable of opposition," Nouripour said on Thursday at the beginning of the Green party congress in Karlsruhe.
Robert Habeck and Omid Nouripour talk after their speech at the federal party conference of Alliance 90/The Greens. © Kay Nietfeld/dpa
"It can't be that an opposition wants the defeat of the government more than the success of the country," he criticized with regard to the reaction of the CDU/CSU after the successful constitutional lawsuit against the budget policy of the traffic light coalition. Economy Minister Habeck also chimed in, declaring that the CDU under Friedrich Merz was a "party of yesterday, led by a chairman from the day before yesterday."
Habeck at Green Party Conference: Finance Minister Knows Reason for Attacks from Many Sides
Habeck also had a reason for the increased attacks from many political directions at the Green Party Congress. "The attacks come because we work, because we make the difference, because we are at the center of the action," Habeck explained. "We're disrupting in the middle because we're in the middle."
Nevertheless, the alarming poll ratings, the reckoning with Baerbock's foreign policy and the asylum policy among the grassroots continue to be topics at the Green Party Congress in Karlsruhe. The grassroots are discussing whether governing in the traffic light coalition pays off at all in view of the dwindling support of the voters. Nouripour sees the responsibility for the current problems in the failures of the grand coalitions of the past. At the same time, he emphasized the successes in the traffic light government. The participation of the Greens in government has had an effect, the party has "achieved an incredible amount".
Habeck's goals at the Green party congress in Karlsruhe: Minister wants to soften debt brake
"There are many large and small projects that we Greens have been able to push through: the Skilled Immigration Act, the lowering of the voting age for European elections to 16 years, the 49-euro ticket, to name just a few," said Misbah Khan, a member of the Bundestag, referring to the successes at the Green Party Congress.
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And Habeck has an even bigger goal in mind: he wants to soften the debt brake, which Finance Minister Christian Lindner is suspending for 2023. It comes from a time "when climate protection was not taken seriously, wars were a thing of the past and China was our cheap workbench." And it prevents Germany from equipping its own industry for the future in the same way as the USA and China.
Habeck on debt brake at Green party conference: "We don't even have our arms free"
"With the debt brake as it is, we have voluntarily tied our hands behind our backs. And so we move into the boxing match. And that's how we want to win it?" doubts Habeck. "The others wrap horseshoes in their gloves – we don't even have our arms free."
Investments are needed for all of this. "Of course, we have to reform the debt brake," Omid Nouripour also takes the plunge and gives hope for a way out of the misery without presenting concrete plans. "We will find solutions," Nouripour promised. "You can't save money." Whether the declarations of war and promises will ultimately lead to a decrease in attacks on Green politicians will have to be shown in the future after the party congress, as well as the question of whether the belligerent tone was just a flash in the pan.