Robert Habeck in Lübeck: Hall completely overcrowded during election campaign speech

The Greens started the hot election campaign phase on Monday with a central event in Lübeck. “It is important that normal life remains affordable,” said Chancellor candidate Robert Habeck in front of more than a thousand people in the completely overcrowded music and congress hall for innovation and social justice. There were also speeches there by Foreign Minister and co-leading candidate Annalena Baerbock and by party leader Felix Banaszak.

Habeck spoke of “a triad” that the Greens want to achieve: The aim is to relieve the burden on private households “especially in the lower range” and to “protect the climate and livelihoods,” said the Lübeck native and: “We are renewing the economy “by introducing future technologies to companies.” The Minister of Economic Affairs advocated easing the burden on companies and citizens when it comes to electricity prices, extending the rent cap and “leaving the 49-euro ticket with the name and 49 euros”.

With a view to the current economic problems, Habeck said that the causes for this were laid long before the traffic light government took office. The aim now must be “not to keep quiet about the problems, not to ignore them, but rather to face them and “solve them”. To achieve this, the Greens did not want, like the Union, flat-rate tax cuts from which the rich would benefit in particular and “they do not are counter-financed”, but rather targeted incentives for companies “to invest in Europe and in Germany”. Habeck also advocated “leaner decisions and reductions in bureaucracy”. However, this should not be combined with “the grinding of protection standards”. be confused.

With a view to the possible government leadership by the right-wing populist FPÖ in Austria, Habeck emphatically called for the democratic parties’ ability to form alliances with each other and a “culture of responsibility in this country”. “Anyone who speaks out against exclusionary sentiment is either preparing to break his word or making this country increasingly difficult to govern,” said the Vice Chancellor, without directly naming the CSU, which rejects coalitions with the Greens.

“We want to do everything we can to ensure that everyone in Europe can one day live in peace again,” said Baerbock in her speech. This must apply “to everyone on this continent”, including freedom from drone attacks and arbitrary abductions of people by the Russian attackers in Ukraine. The Foreign Minister campaigned for a “Europe that is strong” and for “a strong Germany that knows what humanity means.”

“Humanity is indivisible,” regardless of “where a person comes from,” emphasized Baerbock. She also pushed for better protection of democracy in online networks. “We have to step up our game in this area,” she demanded, including “a European security policy on the internet.”

“This election will be a directional decision,” said Banaszak, referring to the federal election on February 23rd. It’s about the decision to face the current challenges or a “back to a world that can no longer be.” And it’s about the decision “about the political culture in this country.”

According to their own statements, the Greens had expected a good 500 people in Lübeck. Around 1,200 people ended up in the hall, but hundreds more had to be turned away due to overcrowding. The event marks the start of the Greens’ election campaign tour by the leading duo Habeck and Baerbock. In the weeks leading up to the federal election, the Greens are planning numerous other events in different formats, from “kitchen table discussions” to town hall debates with citizens.