Four years ago, the party was the most popular in the country – but old rifts have fractured it again. Now the time is ripe for a reset, says historian and journalist Katja Hoyer
One of the Greens’ key problems is personnel. At their peak in 2021 they had two lead figures in Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck, who were widely regarded as pragmatists – a prerequisite for effective government in Germany’s compromise-oriented system
The party elected a new leadership duo – Franziska Brantner, 45, and Felix Banaszak, 35 – and new Green Youth leaders: the climate activist Jakob Blasel and the self-proclaimed “leftwing radical” Jette Nietzard.
You could practically hear the collective sigh of relief at the top of the party when Nietzard announced that she wouldn’t run for the Green Youth leadership again this autumn. She has repeatedly alienated the centrist voter groups the Greens are trying to win back, appearing in clothing imprinted with the anti-police acronym “ACAB” and the anti-capitalist slogan “Eat the rich”. Last month she pondered whether resistance to any future government coalition containing the far-right AfD should be “intellectual or perhaps with weapons”.
The issue is actually solidarity: When Jette Nietzard says something mildly controversial and a bunch of right-wing asshats start a campaign against a young women, there is a large-enough, largely older male part of the Green party that will agree with, at least in part, with such right-wing “criticism”. And that kinda behavior is in fact not how you win elections.
Not saying what you stand for in a futile attempt to appel to the “middle” (which doesn’t take exist, it’s just right wingers hiding their power level) is also how you lose an election.
“Eat the rich” is great messaging for the radical wing of your party. Then the main group has to hem and haw a bit and talk about actual policy. Then the radical guy goes “of course that’s what I mean (wink wink).
Then the radical guy goes “ACAB”, and the main group has an opening to talk about how the administration of justice works in practice for people that don’t look like me. And then again, radical guy goes “yeah that (but also ACAB)”.
The right has been doing this for literal ages with way less popular things. It’s how you get the fringes inside the big tent.
If you really think a guy going “eat the rich” loses elections, you have NOT been paying attention.
Well the Greens lost about a million supporters in the last election. This constant thinking in terms of tactics instead of proper positions, is one of the reasons why the “center” parties have been failing and then moving hard to the right, only further failing.
What decides how people vote for the most part, is what the public discourse is about. By parroting right and far right positions, the Greens and the SPD helped strengthen the Fascists. Instead what would have been needed is a “left” alternative as in supporting the constitutional and basic human rights of people, limiting the influence of money on politics and modernizing infrastructure based on proper tax income (wealth tax, inheritance tax without loopholes.) Instead the Greens went for “tough on crime and deport the brown people!”
The Greens have never been a centrist party, except for rare outliers like the Greens in Baden-Württemberg who at times are indistinguishable from the CDU with green stripes added.
They didn’t lose the center, they tried to take it over since CDU/CSU and now even SPD are drifting further and further right. Habeck and Baerbock were the spearhead of the “Realos”, the centrist movement of an otherwise left leaning party. Both are now on the way out after failing to capture the elusive “Merkel-Mitte”: Basically conservative middle class people who have been mostly favouring CDU so far and supposedly are not willing to fowollow the proto-fascist course that Merz is plotting. Except either these people people don’t exist or they simply didn’t vote for the Greens. Worse, all Habeck and Baerbock achieved is that they massively lost left leaning voters to Die Linke.
Chem Ödzdemir, possible the next President of the German State of Baden-Württemberg recently said the Greens should avoid leftist ideas and focus on their core ideas. Which are what exactly? The modern Greens formed formed out of an environmental movement from West-Germany and a anti-authoritarian movement from East-Germany after the Reunification. Those are inherently “leftist/woke” ideas.
Also the Greens in the West had much more social security and anti capitalist positions until the late 90s early 00s when the former students started making big money in the German industry.
Did you actually read the article?
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/08/green-party-politics-germany
It’s not about policies. It’s about not saying stupid shit.
You don’t get elected by saying stupid shit to only appeal to your base.
The issue is actually solidarity: When Jette Nietzard says something mildly controversial and a bunch of right-wing asshats start a campaign against a young women, there is a large-enough, largely older male part of the Green party that will agree with, at least in part, with such right-wing “criticism”. And that kinda behavior is in fact not how you win elections.
Eat the rich is a smarter slogan than anything the center-right has to offer.
I could probably think of a million slogans better than “eat the rich”.
“Make billionaires extinct”
“End the oligarchy”
“Redistribute the 1%”
“Tax billionaires to death”
“Billionaires should not exist”
“No taxation without representation”
Etc, etc
There is no environmental policy that is compatible with the existence of individuals with the net worth of a small sovereign nation.
Yes, eat the rich.
I agree. Billionaires are a huge problem.
This slogan is how you lose an election.
First lesson of politics: You don’t need to win your supporters. You can’t convince your enemies. You need to win those who are unsure
Not saying what you stand for in a futile attempt to appel to the “middle” (which doesn’t take exist, it’s just right wingers hiding their power level) is also how you lose an election.
“Eat the rich” is great messaging for the radical wing of your party. Then the main group has to hem and haw a bit and talk about actual policy. Then the radical guy goes “of course that’s what I mean (wink wink).
Then the radical guy goes “ACAB”, and the main group has an opening to talk about how the administration of justice works in practice for people that don’t look like me. And then again, radical guy goes “yeah that (but also ACAB)”.
The right has been doing this for literal ages with way less popular things. It’s how you get the fringes inside the big tent.
If you really think a guy going “eat the rich” loses elections, you have NOT been paying attention.
we need more of this and less of what that other person is selling
Well the Greens lost about a million supporters in the last election. This constant thinking in terms of tactics instead of proper positions, is one of the reasons why the “center” parties have been failing and then moving hard to the right, only further failing.
What decides how people vote for the most part, is what the public discourse is about. By parroting right and far right positions, the Greens and the SPD helped strengthen the Fascists. Instead what would have been needed is a “left” alternative as in supporting the constitutional and basic human rights of people, limiting the influence of money on politics and modernizing infrastructure based on proper tax income (wealth tax, inheritance tax without loopholes.) Instead the Greens went for “tough on crime and deport the brown people!”
The Greens have never been a centrist party, except for rare outliers like the Greens in Baden-Württemberg who at times are indistinguishable from the CDU with green stripes added.
They didn’t lose the center, they tried to take it over since CDU/CSU and now even SPD are drifting further and further right. Habeck and Baerbock were the spearhead of the “Realos”, the centrist movement of an otherwise left leaning party. Both are now on the way out after failing to capture the elusive “Merkel-Mitte”: Basically conservative middle class people who have been mostly favouring CDU so far and supposedly are not willing to fowollow the proto-fascist course that Merz is plotting. Except either these people people don’t exist or they simply didn’t vote for the Greens. Worse, all Habeck and Baerbock achieved is that they massively lost left leaning voters to Die Linke.
Chem Ödzdemir, possible the next President of the German State of Baden-Württemberg recently said the Greens should avoid leftist ideas and focus on their core ideas. Which are what exactly? The modern Greens formed formed out of an environmental movement from West-Germany and a anti-authoritarian movement from East-Germany after the Reunification. Those are inherently “leftist/woke” ideas.
Also the Greens in the West had much more social security and anti capitalist positions until the late 90s early 00s when the former students started making big money in the German industry.