Election campaign: Green Party leader invites Merz for a beer

Two and a half months before the federal election, an alliance between the Union and the Greens is mathematically within reach. According to new surveys, the black-green vote would be 44 to 47 percent. A majority in the Bundestag would be possible because several parties could miss the five percent hurdle.

Both sides emphasized the differences, but Green Party co-leader Felix Banaszak wants to get to know the CDU chairman and Union Chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz.

Banaszak was elected to the dual leadership of the Green Party with Franziska Brantner in mid-November. Banaszak told the Bavaria media group that he was speaking to the chairmen of the other democratic parties and that there had not yet been any personal exchanges with Merz. “But it’s already scheduled,” he said. But CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann denied this: “A meeting is not planned,” he told the German Press Agency. Reports to the contrary are “simply wrong.”

Banaszak, on the other hand, can also imagine a very personal meeting with Merz. When asked whether the two members of the Bundestag had ever had a beer together, the Green Party leader said: “Not yet, but I would like to invite him to my local bar in Duisburg.”

Black-red and black-green possible options

The Union is currently polling at 32 to 33 percent, the Greens at 12 to 14 percent. In the new Sunday trend from the polling institute Insa for “Bild am Sonntag”, the Union achieved 32 percent, the Greens 12 percent, which together would be 44 percent. The second strongest force would be the AfD with 19 percent, ahead of the SPD with 16 percent.

The Sahra Wagenknecht alliance achieved 8 percent, while the FDP and the Left missed the five percent hurdle with 4 percent each. In addition to the black-green coalition, a government alliance between the Union and the SPD would also be mathematically possible (together 48 percent).

A federal coalition between the Union and the Greens would be a novelty. In 2017, the CDU/CSU, the Greens and the FDP discussed a so-called Jamaica coalition, but this did not come about. In North Rhine-Westphalia, Schleswig-Holstein and Baden-Württemberg, the Union and the Greens govern together, in the southwest under the leadership of the Greens.

Berlin’s mayor Wegner advises against “exclusionaryism”.

Berlin’s governing mayor Kai Wegner advises his party to keep a coalition with the Greens open after the federal election in February. “The Union will need a coalition partner after the federal election. I don’t think much of exclusionism,” the CDU politician told the dpa.

Wegner said he understood that the CDU did not want to work with the Greens, as they had now presented themselves at the federal level and in the traffic light government. But he also pointed out what he saw as the successful black-green coalitions in the three federal states. “So why should such alliances be generally excluded?” asked Wegner.

Hendrik Wüst (CDU), head of government of the first black-green coalition in North Rhine-Westphalia, told “Welt am Sonntag” that in the states the CDU is showing “that successful coalitions between a strong CDU and the Greens are also possible.” At the same time, Wüst said: “In many respects, the SPD and FDP are closer to us than the Greens.”

Climate neutrality 2045 is non-negotiable for the Greens

Linnemann and Banaszak once again made fundamental differences between the CDU/CSU and the Greens clear. The Union wants a policy change in migration, economics and social policy. “That can’t be done with these Greens,” said Linnemann. CDU leader Merz says this again and again. In contrast to him, CSU boss Markus Söder generally rules out cooperation with the Greens.

Banaszak said the Greens agreed with the Union that peace in Ukraine and Europe cannot be achieved by “throwing ourselves in the dust before an imperial aggressor like Vladimir Putin.” “Otherwise we are very different,” he added.

Merz has no plan on how to continue investing in a sustainable economy in this country and also seems to have no interest in consistent climate protection. “The CDU and CSU want to turn our country into an industrial museum,” said Banaszak. He called the goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2045 “non-negotiable.”