After the disaster in the four previous elections, the Green Party board announced its resignation in mid-November. Two members of the Bundestag have now declared their candidacy.
The Green Party politicians Franziska Brantner and Felix Banaszak have announced their candidacy for party leadership. They want to lead the Greens into the federal election in a year and a new departure for the party. The Greens must become a “place of future and hope” again, said Banaszak in Berlin.
On Wednesday, the party’s entire federal executive board, headed by co-chairs Omid Nouripour and Ricarda Lang, announced its resignation in mid-November. The party leadership thus drew conclusions from the failures of the Greens in the recent elections.
Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) described the announced candidacy of Brantner and Banaszak for the party leadership as a “strong signal for a new start” for the Greens. Habeck is considered the Greens’ likely candidate for chancellor.
Quick candidacy
“I’m applying to be your federal chair,” Brantner wrote briefly on Instagram on Friday. She is considered a confidant of Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck and is parliamentary state secretary in his ministry. Bundestag member Banaszak wrote on Instagram: “I have experienced ups and downs and learned that after a valley things can go up again.”
The Green Party member of the Bundestag Andreas Audretsch announced that he would take over the management of the campaign for the federal election. On Friday afternoon, Brantner and Banaszak briefly appeared before the press together in Berlin.
Party conference in November
The new board is to be elected at the regular federal party conference in Wiesbaden planned for mid-November. At that point at the latest, a decision will be made about the top candidate for the federal election in a year’s time.
Country “unsettled”
“This country is unsettled, but right now this country needs a political force that doesn’t bury its head in the sand,” said Banaszak. In their history, the Greens have always managed to work their way back up from a valley. “And we are convinced that we can and will succeed this time too.”
Brantner said she is very humbled by the task. And: “I’m doing this because I’m firmly convinced that we can move this country forward, that we have to bring it together.”
When asked whether her candidacy meant that the Greens would now completely adopt the Habeck line, she replied: “I’m running as Franziska Brantner, and if I were elected, then everyone would get Franziska Brantner.”
Banaszak from the left wing
Banaszak is considered eloquent, capable of compromise and, as a former state chairman, contributed to the party’s good performance in the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia. After the previous federal executive board announced its withdrawal, Brantner was quickly identified as the candidate of the so-called Realo wing of the Greens.
According to information from the German Press Agency, there is still no final agreement on the other positions on the board that need to be filled. It is expected that the post of Emily Büning, who is political director, will again be filled by a woman from the left wing.
Audretsch becomes campaign manager
The Green parliamentary group vice-president Audretsch wrote on Platform X: “One more year until the federal election. We are starting something new.” It’s about a lot and about Greens who want to inspire people about climate protection and justice, he added. And: “In addition to my work in the Bundestag, I want to contribute something.” As parliamentary group deputy, Audretsch is responsible for finance, budget, economics, labor and social affairs.
Quake among the Greens
It was a “tough week,” said Banaszak. Brantner said that the hard struggle for positions and the diversity within the party were among the strengths of the Greens.
Shortly before, Hamburg Green MP Ivy May Müller had announced that she was leaving the party. Müller said she also wanted to leave the Greens faction in the Hamburg parliament and join the Left faction as a non-party. This follows the resignation of the Federal Executive Board of the Green Youth, which was announced the day before. Müller explained: “I will no longer stand for a Green Party policy that does not take fears of relegation seriously and does not address the major social injustices in society.”
On Wednesday evening it became known that the federal executive board of the Green Youth wanted to resign from the party in protest against the Greens’ course and set up a new left-wing youth association. The entire state board of the Green Youth in Bavaria also wants to leave the party. The reason is a “process of alienation” from the party. The dual leadership of the Green Youth in Lower Saxony is also withdrawing from the party. In Rhineland-Palatinate, the dual leadership of the Green Youth has resigned, according to the party.
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.
