Germany's Greens have a hunger for power that would have scandalised their hippie forebears
of Germany’s Greens is a series of once-per-decade eruptions. Forty years ago an eccentric band of environmentalists, peaceniks and anti-nuclear activists gathered in Karlsruhe to set up a political party. In the early 1990s, after the party stumbled by failing to back German reunification, it merged with civil-society groups in the former east, yielding a clunky name that survives today: Alliance 90/The Greens.
The party itself has shaped up, too. For the past two years the Greens have been led by Robert Habeck and Annalena Baerbock, a telegenic, cheerful pairing who personify the triumph of the party’s “Realo” wing over its hard-core “Fundis”. Mr Habeck, 50, a perma-stubbled former minister in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein with a relaxed manner, has quickly become one of Germany’s most popular politicians; Ms Baerbock, 39, is a sharp-wittedwho knows her party inside-out.
Difficult compromises are being forged on climate, the party’s signature issue, too. Despite having battled to shake off their image as humourless eco-moralists tossing off prohibitions against motorists and carnivores, the Greens are again talking about bans, which Mr Habeck has called “the condition for freedom”. The Greens want to phase out coal power and the combustion engine by 2030.
To an extent, data back the party’s claim to transcend left-right divisions. At the European election in May, where the Greens came second with 20.5%, they took almost as many votes from the. And as Germans adopt greener lifestyles the party returns the compliment, embracing local customs and traditions. “I like beer-tents, I like my,” chuckles Katharina Schulze, who led the Greens to their best-ever result in Bavaria in 2018 after campaigning accordingly.
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