The Greens renew a leadership tied to “compromise”, as allies of Scholz

The Greens germans They renewed their leadership, two months after their leaders, Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck, took over as Foreign Affairs and Economy under the Social Democratic Chancellor Olaf Scholz, convinced that they can achieve more through commitment.

The two-headed presidency of the last four years, Baerbock and Habeck, said goodbye to the delegates in a virtual congress and, therefore, without the heated debates of face-to-face times.

Ricarda Lang, who at 28 is the youngest leader in the party’s history, and Omid Nouripour, a German-Iranian and Foreign Affairs expert, were chosen to succeed them. The new president obtained 76% of the telematic vote, while her running mate exceeded 82%.

Born in Tehran in 1975, Nouripour arrived with his parents in the late 1980s in Frankfurt and has been a member of the Bundestag (Parliament) since 2006.

Lang led the youth of the Greens and obtained his parliamentary seat in 2021. He has suffered harassment on social networks, either because of his political positions, or for having entered – like the rest of the leadership – a premium of 1,500 euros for pandemic expenses or simply because of their overweight.

Before the congress, Lang opted for a “realistic organization” and defended the “great opportunity” that being in government means. Nouripour highlighted “the green stamp” that his party stamped on the coalition pact with Scholz, the result of the compromise.

The term “compromise” was also the most used by Baerbock and Habeck in their farewell as co-chairs. “Commitment is part of life,” said the minister.

In accordance with the rule of the greens, which imposes a separation of party positions and ministerial functions, both leave their positions after having led the party to the best result in its history in the 2011 general elections, with 14.8%.

The designation as a candidate for the Chancellery, in March 2021, catapulted Baerbock to first place in voting intention. That virtual leadership was soon dissolved, in part due to the candidate’s slips and mistakes, profusely amplified in the media and social networks.

“We achieved a historic result, but not 25%,” recalled Habeck. The victory went to Scholz, who with 25.7% of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) became chancellor with his tripartite with Greens and Liberals.

BALANCES OR WAIVERS

Habeck is Vice Chancellor and Minister of Energy and Climate, which implies the challenge of carrying out a green energy revolution and updating an industrial power that was somewhat left behind.

For the moment, it has reluctantly faced the proposal of the European Commission (EC) that considers both atomic energy and natural gas “green”, in a year in which Germany will complete the nuclear blackout initiated during the red-green government of Gerhard Schröder -1998/2005-.

Baerbock has become the most active and mediatic Scholz minister. She has had to strike a balance between the postulates that she defended in the opposition – such as the rejection of the Nord-Stream II gas pipeline and criticism of Moscow – and the dialogue that she now represents as head of German diplomacy.

The foreign minister is the one who sets the guidelines in Foreign Affairs, Baerbock was reminded from the Foreign Ministry upon taking office. However, it was she who this week, from the Bundestag, conditioned the future of the German-Russian gas pipeline to possible sanctions, in the event of Russian aggression against Ukraine.

The great resignation of the Greens, however, occurred before the tripartite was sealed, by agreeing that the Ministry of Traffic be for the Liberals. With this they resigned themselves to the fact that a speed limit will not be imposed on the roads, an aspiration of the Greens shared, according to current polls, by a majority of citizens, but not by the third partner of the coalition.

AGRICULTURE, ENVIRONMENT AND FAMILY

The Greens see these commitments as part of the strategy that has to take them to the Chancellery after Baerbock’s first “dress rehearsal”. There are five ministries that direct -Agriculture, Environment and Family, together with Foreign Affairs and Economy-, in addition to the Secretary of State for Culture.

In Agriculture, Cem Özdemir began to set his course, a veteran in a still young party, who in 1994 became the first deputy of Turkish origin in the Bundestag.

At the head of Environment, Family and Culture are three women -Steffi Lemke, Anne Spiegel and Claudia Roth-, with which the Greens fulfilled the objective of gender parity, as did Scholz’s Social Democrats, although not the Liberals.

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