The Greens are in crisis. Nevertheless, the resignation of the party leadership came as a surprise to many in their own ranks. Will a Habeck confidante now be on the scene?
The Greens have pulled the plug one year before the federal election. As a consequence of the party’s recent failures in elections and poor poll ratings, co-chairs Ricarda Lang and Omid Nouripour announced the resignation of the entire party executive in November. “We need a fresh start,” said Nouripour in Berlin.
A new executive board is to be elected at the federal party conference in mid-November. Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) called the announced resignation a “great service to the party”.
The Greens suffered drastic losses in the last four elections – the European elections and the state elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg. They were thrown out of two state parliaments. In Saxony alone they narrowly managed to get back into the state parliament. “The election result on Sunday in Brandenburg is a testament to the deepest crisis our party has faced in a decade,” said Nouripour.
“New faces are needed to lead the party out of this crisis,” Lang said. “Now is not the time to cling to your chair. Now is the time to take responsibility, and we are taking on this responsibility by enabling a fresh start,” she added.
Board election actually only after the federal election
Lang and Nouripour were elected chairmen at the beginning of 2022 – as successors to Habeck and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. They are relatively popular in the party. Many Greens give them credit for the fact that there were no rivalries or differences of opinion between them – unlike some of their predecessors. The current federal executive board was actually elected for two years in November 2023.
In nationwide polls, the Greens recently achieved values that are significantly below their result in the 2021 federal election. At that time, the Greens had received 14.8 percent with their candidate for chancellor, Baerbock. The party had hoped for even more at the time. If there were a federal election next Sunday, the Greens could now only expect ten to eleven percent of the vote, according to recent polls.
Habeck: Headwind for the Greens
Habeck thanked the outgoing leadership duo. “This step shows great strength and foresight,” he said. Lang and Nouripour cleared the way for a “powerful new beginning.” Habeck continued: “We have had tough months behind us, the Greens were facing full headwinds.” The defeats in the last elections were indisputably influenced by the federal trend.
How are the Greens positioning themselves for the federal election?
The Greens want to decide in the autumn whether they will put forward a candidate for chancellor in the federal election next year or only run with a top candidate. The decision is expected to be made before the federal party conference, which is scheduled to take place in Wiesbaden in mid-November. After Foreign Minister Baerbock said that she does not want to be at the top this time, everything is pointing to Habeck.
“We all bear responsibility here, including me. And I, too, want to face it,” said Habeck. “I want an open debate at the party conference on a possible candidacy and an honest vote in a secret ballot.” The party conference will now be the place “where the Greens will regroup and reposition themselves in order to then begin the race to catch up for the federal election with renewed vigor.”
Baerbock: We also need to improve in government
Baerbock sees room for improvement in her party – and in the traffic light government. “All of us who are responsible for the Greens and this country must ask ourselves what we can and must do differently,” said the former Green Party leader on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. It is about regaining people’s trust in politics. “We in the government must also ask ourselves how we can improve.”
Baerbock went on to say that she would support Habeck on his path and at the party conference in November with all her strength and commitment.
Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) said: “It is a clear signal: The Greens have understood. Something has changed in our country and we are reacting to it.”
Possible candidates for party chairmanship
It is still unclear who will run for party chairmanship, although names are already being mentioned behind the scenes. One of them is Franziska Brantner. She is parliamentary state secretary in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, a close confidante of Habeck, and belongs to the realo wing. According to party members, the 45-year-old’s strengths are that she can communicate clearly and is actively involved in various social media platforms. A few weeks ago it was announced that Brantner would become Habeck’s campaign manager.
Felix Banaszak (34), member of the Bundestag, is also considered a promising candidate. In his role as state chairman at the time, he led the North Rhine-Westphalia Greens to their best result to date (18.2 percent) in NRW and into the state government in 2022.
According to information from “Spiegel”, the Berlin Green Party MP and deputy parliamentary group leader Andreas Audretsch is also being discussed. A spokeswoman for the Hesse Green Party parliamentary group said that the former Hesse Minister of Economic Affairs Tarek Al-Wazir does not want to become chairman of the Green Party – as the “Tagesspiegel” had written.
Traffic light in the “autumn of decisions”
Nouripour had already sounded relatively resigned on Monday. He spoke of a bitter defeat in Brandenburg and at the same time expressed dismay at the state of the traffic light coalition. In the traffic light coalition of the SPD, FDP and Greens, there are repeated public disputes over various issues. Nouripour had already described the traffic light coalition as a “transitional solution”.
According to Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), the announced resignation of the Green Party leadership has no impact on the traffic light coalition. Scholz had “worked closely and trustingly” with Lang and Nouripour and regretted their withdrawal, said government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit. The SPD leadership thanked the Green Party leaders for their close cooperation.
FDP leader Christian Lindner paid tribute to Lang and Nouripour for announcing their resignation. “The cooperation was always fair on a human level,” wrote the Federal Finance Minister on X. At the same time, he stressed: “We are excited to see whether a new course emerges under new leadership and what impact it will have on the government.” Lindner had increased the pressure on the coalition partners SPD and the Greens by calling for an “autumn of decisions”. Among other things, a growth package is to be implemented to stimulate the economy.
Söder demands Habeck’s resignation
Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) called on Habeck to resign from office. The announcement of Lang and Nouripour’s resignation was “nothing more than a pawn sacrifice,” he said in Berlin. The fact that the Green Party’s federal executive board wants to resign completely in November shows “that the traffic light coalition is falling apart.” Habeck is personally responsible for Germany’s economic decline.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
