Germany′s Green party elects new leaders | News | DW | 27.01.2018

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Politics

Germany's Green party elects new leaders

Germany's Greens have chosen lawmakers Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck to lead the party. The vote comes as former co-chairs Cem Özdemir and Simone Peter step down from their positions.

Green chairs Robert Habeck and Annalena Baerbock

German lawmakers Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck were chosen as the new leaders of the Greens at the party's convention in the northern city of Hanover on Saturday.

The leadership vote took place as the party sought to replace co-chairs Cem Özdemir and Simone Peter.

Read more: Germany's Green party: How it evolved

Strong support

  • Baerbock received nearly 65 percent of the vote compared to Lower Saxony parliamentary party leader Anja Piel's 34.8 percent.
  • Habeck, the environment minister of the state of Schleswig-Holstein, received 83 percent of the vote.

Read more: Germany's Green party finds a haven in Heidelberg

  • Heidelberg castle

    Heidelberg: A Green party stronghold

    Romantic ruins

    Destroyed and rebuilt many times over the centuries, Heidelberg's Gothic and Renaissance style castle is a huge draw for tourists, including Mark Twain and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. 3.8 million people visted the ruins of the royal residence in 2016.

  • Heidelberg University

    Heidelberg: A Green party stronghold

    College town

    Founded in 1386, Heidelberg University is Germany's oldest. The students make up over a quarter of the city's population of 156,000 people. According to a study by Germany's Die Welt newspaper, the Green party has the most voters with university degrees.

  • Heidelberg mansions

    Heidelberg: A Green party stronghold

    Prime real estate

    According to that same study, along with the business-friendly Free Democrats, Green party voters are also the richest. Rental costs in Heidelberg far exceed the national average, and are even well above the average for the relatively wealthy state of Baden-Württemberg.

  • Heidelberg town center

    Heidelberg: A Green party stronghold

    Young and green

    Electric buses, cyclists, and young families - the average Green party voter is indistinguishable from the average Heidelberger. You'll find similar tableaus in nearby Green strongholds like Freiburg and Tübingen, similarly wealthy and well-educated college towns in Baden-Württemberg.

  • Heidelberg art exhibition

    Heidelberg: A Green party stronghold

    An evening of art

    Another typical sight in Heidelberg - an international art exhibition. Organized by Franziska Brantner, the Green party politician who represents Heidelberg in the Bundestag, the work showcases Iranian girls and their dreams for the future. "Comospolitan" is a word many Heidelbergers happily apply to their city, and foreign outreach programs are a mainstay of Green party politics.

  • Heidelberg Speed Dating

    Heidelberg: A Green party stronghold

    Speed dating - the next Green generation

    The next day, Brantner visited the Marie-Baum high school. Together with other politicians, she participated in a "speed dating" event to encourage young voters to question their would-be representatives about refugees, terrorism, and domestic policy.

  • Students distributing flyers at a halls of residence

    Heidelberg: A Green party stronghold

    Intensely oppositional

    Members of the Campus Grüne brave the rain to deliver flyers. In keeping with the party's history as an oppositional force, this group refuses to align itself with the official Green party of Baden-Württemberg, because they do not agree with some of the policies the party has adopted now that heads the state government.

  • Heidelberg bakery

    Heidelberg: A Green party stronghold

    Conscious consumption

    "Conscious" is how Christiane Link describes the customers at her highly successful artisanal organic bakery Mahlzahn. Founded in 1982 by three Green party-affiliated bakers, the bakery (and its three new branches) has stayed true to its roots as a collective dedicated to hand-made bread created on site. Any good Green supporter gets their organic, whole-wheat rye loaf at Mahlzahn.

  • refugees playing football in Heidelbergy

    Heidelberg: A Green party stronghold

    'World league' soccer

    Heidelberg received high praise for its handling of the migration wave in 2015. Some 600 refugees arrived in the city at the height of the crisis. One integration project the city can be particularly proud of is the "Weltliga" football club. Hundreds of young men, like these two from Iraq and Syria, played against groups of locals - brought together by a common love of sport.

  • An old poster in Heidelberg

    Heidelberg: A Green party stronghold

    Forever Green

    Heidelberg has long been a Green party stronghold. The famous political artist Klaus Stäck grew up here, and was undoubtedly influenced by its commitment to environmentalism. In this poster from the 1980s, found on the city's famous Philosopher's Way, Stäck chides capitalists to "go forth and subdue the earth."

    Author: Elizabeth Schumacher


In their own words

Baerbock demanded "radicalism" from Green party members at the convention in order to do more in combating climate change.

Habeck said that under his tenure, it will be "our time" to advance the party's politics.

Read more: Germany's Greens look to future in opposition

Peter said on Friday that the Greens need to position themselves against a "conservative revolution" in upcoming regional elections. She also told DW she was ready to leave her position, "For a long time, I have been prepared for this coming to an end; so it's good."

Özdemir told party members that the Greens will remain a "center-left force" that takes its "responsibility seriously."

Should the ongoing grand coalition talks between Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian parties and the Social Democrats fall apart, Greens parliamentary group co-leader Anton Hofreiter told DW that his party would be ready to step in. "If these coalition talks fail, the Greens are prepared to get involved, but it is highly unlikely the CDU and CSU will form a minority government with us," he said.

Cem Özdemir has served as co-chair since 2008

Cem Özdemir has served as co-chair since 2008

How did the Greens do in Germany's last elections? The Green party gained 8.9 percent of the vote in September's general election. The party was part of Merkel's attempt at forming a so-called Jamaica coalition government, along with the Free Democrats (FDP). However, talks collapsed when the FDP walked out.

What happens next? Baerbock and Habeck will lead the Green party as it positions itself as an opposition party in the Bundestag while trying to strengthen its position in regional legislatures.

What do party members think? Greens have high hopes for the new leadership duo. Parliamentarian Kerstin Andreae called Habeck a "highly unconventional, refreshing kind of character." 

ls/sms (dpa, Reuters)

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Germany's Greens look to future in opposition

The breakdown of the "Jamaica" coalition talks meant the Greens' dream of being part of government has been derailed. During a party congress in Berlin they aired their frustration — and focused on their strengths. (25.11.2017)  

Germany's Green party: How it evolved

Germany's Greens have been trailblazers for ecological movements around the world. But since the 1980s they have become increasingly conservative — and remain an opposition party. (24.09.2017)  

Germany's Green party finds a haven in Heidelberg

The Greens may remain on the margins in Berlin, but in Germany's picturesque and prosperous southwest, they're a political mainstay. DW's Elizabeth Schumacher reports from Heidelberg. (28.08.2017)  

The FDP's Christian Lindner: the coalition killer

The chairman of the Free Democrats is determined his party won't repeat old mistakes, but is Christian Lindner making a new one? Meet the man who torpedoed the Jamaica coalition and threw Germany's future wide open. (20.11.2017)  

Angela Merkel announces coalition talks with FDP and Greens

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says her CDU will hold talks with the FDP and the Greens on forming a coalition government. The move was widely expected after the Social Democrats said they wanted to be in opposition. (07.10.2017)  

Heidelberg: A Green party stronghold

As Germany prepares for federal elections, there's one place the Green party doesn't have to win over - Heidelberg. Young, well-off and well educated, this city boasts double the national average in Green voters. (28.08.2017)  

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