What does helplessness and frustration look like? A bit like and looked one day after the . The still-Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister both sat with very serious expressions in front of journalists in Berlin.
The came away with 11.61% of the vote, compared to their 14.8% share in 2021. The former partner in the center-left government will now have no real say — the conservative and and their likely coalition partner, the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), will decide the future course of Germany’s government among themselves.
Until CDU leader is elected as the new Chancellor, the current government with its Green party cabinet ministers will remain in office, but as sitting ducks without much room for maneuver. By around Easter, the Greens’ time at the levers of power will most probably have come to an end after less than four years.
Habeck step backs, Baerbock keeps quiet
The Green Party’s failed chancellor candidate Robert Habeck does not actually think he did much wrong in this tough and short election campaign. He made sure that the Greens were able to present themselves as an ally, both with the SPD and the CDU/CSU.
The election campaign was good, the party was united, he said. He had received a lot of encouragement. “This is not a good result: we wanted more,” he told journalists.
The outgoing Economy and Climate Minister told the press he would neither try to lead the Green parliamentary grouping, nor take up any prominent position in the party going forward.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is keeping quiet about her future plans for the time being. She is also a member of the new Bundestag, as is Habeck.
During his campaign, Habeck had indicated that he would be open to forming a coalition government with the CDU/CSU. Green Party co-leader Felix Banaszak believes that this is what ultimately cost him votes. “Many people who could imagine voting for the Greens obviously found the idea of Friedrich Merz becoming chancellor quite terrifying,” he told DW.
Too much tough talk on immigration?
Habeck has often spoken about the need for deportations of criminals, even to Afghanistan. Many in his party wondered whether it had been wise to talk so much about immigration without even being prompted.
In the end, the Greens lost 700,000 votes to the Left Party which openly defended its liberal immigration policy.
But despite all the dissatisfaction with the election campaign, the Green Party’s performance is also the result of how spectacularly its coalition government with the center-left Social Democratic Party SPD and the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP) failed. “We achieved an incredible amount. When it comes to the expansion of renewable energies or the new citizenship law, but the coalition was very contentious,” Green parliamentary group co-leader Britta Hasselmann told DW on the evening of the election.
Opposition will be difficult for the Greens
The Greens are now relegated to the opposition and it will be difficult to adapt. “We now have a completely different situation in Germany and in Europe with the way US President Donald Trump has positioned himself,” co-leader Banaszak told DW.
“We now need a government that makes it clear that Germany is now taking on a self-confident role in Europe,” he said.
However willing, it remains highly unlikely that the Greens will be invited to form a coalition government together with the CDU/CSU and the SPD. However, the party may have one last decisive role to play if Merz needs a willing partner to help reform the country’s strict debt rules. Which might be necessary now that US President Trump has declared that he no longer wants to take care of Germany’s defense.
If Merz wants to get rid of the infamous debt brake in order to pump money into the German army, he will need a two-thirds majority of votes in the Bundestag. The Greens say they are prepared to go along with the risky plan. In the style of a governing party. Which they will be only for a few more weeks.
This article was originally written in German.
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The post What went wrong for Habeck and Germany’s Green Party? appeared first on Deutsche Welle.
