Germany’s ‘muesli eaters’ show new hunger for power

They called themselves the “anti-party”. Fresh from street skirmishes with police at anti-nuclear and pacifist rallies, Germany’s Green party came to parliament in the 1980s sporting long beards, long skirts, sneakers and hand-knitted sweaters. 

“We were laughed at, mocked as ‘muesli eaters’,” recalled 81-year-old Hans-Christian Ströbele, a founding member from Berlin. “We were told we didn’t understand the world, that we should stop doing politics.”

Four decades on, a representative from a very different generation of Greens walked across the stage this week in a smart blue dress and red heels, announcing her candidacy for Germany’s highest office.

“I want to make an offer to the whole of society: an invitation to lead our diverse, strong, wealthy country toward a good future,” said Annalena Baerbock, the Green’s first-ever chancellor candidate. “We must be honest that, to do this, change is necessary. We can do it — but also, we must.”

Germany’s Greens are riding a wave of popularity that could sweep them into government in September’s national elections. Should they win enough of the vote, they may have a shot at leading the government — taking the mantle from outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel and so snatching away the long dominant role of her centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

I’d been pessimistic [about the Greens’ chances], but that was before I imagined the conservatives so completely imploding. I have no idea how fast [they] can recover

“Climate is on top of everyone’s agenda,” said Andrea Römmele, a political scientist at the Hertie School. “Their core mission is on everyone’s mind.”

Voters may agree. In the first snap poll since the main candidates were announced, the Greens with Baerbock jumped to the top, with 28 per cent. The CDU and Armin Laschet, seen as a symbol of continuity, dropped to second with 21 per cent. The centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) languished at 13 per cent.

For 16 years, Merkel was Germany’s and Europe’s “safe pair of hands”, steering them through the Trump presidency, Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic. But some see her focus on stability as too cautious for an era of upheaval marked by climate change, the technology race and a political scene fragmented by populist movements.

The Greens are keen to show voters beyond their traditional base that they are now a party of pragmatists with an ambitious agenda to tackle the challenges facing Germany that goes beyond climate policy. Their campaign pledges include a €500m spending programme to invest in infrastructure, digitalisation and innovation as well as emissions neutrality.

“Our society is more progressive than its politics,” Baerbock said in her speech this week.

The pandemic has exposed problems in Europe’s largest economy. Sluggish vaccination campaigns and contact tracing via fax and paper trails were a reminder of how Germany lags behind on digitalisation. Swaths of the country’s infrastructure require costly renovation. Before the pandemic, the World Economic Forum dropped Germany from third place to seventh in its 2019 Global Competitiveness Report.

The rise of the Greens has been years in the making, as progressive causes long championed by the party, such as rights for women and minorities — in addition to the environment — have become mainstream.

“Our party moved to the centre, yes — but the centre also moved to the Greens,” said Reinhard Bütikofer, a Green member of the European Parliament.

The party has already had some government experience. It was a junior partner in the SPD-led coalition that took power in 1998 but collapsed seven years later.

Things were different now, said Green MP Jürgen Trittin, a former environment minister: “This time, we aim to become the leading force of a new majority.”

The Greens are already represented in 11 of Germany’s 16 state governments. As the ruling party in Baden-Württemberg, the heartland of Germany’s auto industry, roundtable discussions between business leaders and the Greens have taught both sides they need not see each other as a threat, Bütikofer said.

When German economic magazine Wirtschaftswoche polled business leaders on their preferred chancellor candidate this week, Baerbock rated highest — despite Green plans for higher taxes and their intention to phase out coal-fired power by 2030, eight years ahead of current plans.

But a strong showing for the party in September’s election is not assured. Analysts say their current high is partly the result of a bruising public struggle between Laschet and Markus Söder, who heads the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, the CSU, over which of them would lead the centre-right bloc into the elections.

“I’d been pessimistic earlier [about the Green’s chances], but that was before I imagined the conservatives so completely imploding,” said one Green politician. “I have no idea how fast [they] can recover.”

Yet the Greens themselves could struggle to hold their ranks together. Tensions have emerged with the “Fridays for Future” student climate protest movement, partly credited for the party’s rise in recent years.

Earlier this year, the Greens initially avoided including in their platform tough policies to ensure no more than an increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius in global warming. The move sparked a big backlash before the party changed tack.

Ströbele, who marched with the students on the Friday demonstrations with the help of his walking frame, remains optimistic for the future of his party — as long as it remains true to its goals.

“I don’t mind if they want to dress like the others, as long as they don’t forget their real task,” he said. “If we are strong . . . it is not just us who will benefit. The world will be different afterwards.”