The Greens have decided: the candidate for the chancellery is Annalena Baerbock. In the choice for the post-Merkel, the 40-year-old political scientist, former trampoline champion, known for her iron will, quick thinking and talent in networking, got the better of Robert Habeck, the mild and charismatic 51-year-old philosopher from the air dreamy and the messes in the press conference, but who has always stood out for his extraordinary ability to mediate. A female chancellor could be succeeded by another female chancellor, if the Greens succeed in overtaking the CDU / Csu in the coming months.
Germany, the world upside down: the CDU tears itself apart while the Greens are compact and choose who will run for the chancellery
by our correspondent Tonia Mastrobuoni
It was Habeck who announced, after a meeting between the two, that the die was cast. The former regional minister said he was convinced that the new candidate for the chancellery “will passionately defend the program of the Greens. She is combative, concentrated, strong-willed “. Habeck also said he was convinced that Baerbock could grab Angela Merkel’s scepter. Judging by the polls, he added, “the CDU / CSU is at hand”. Baerbock, radiant, spoke of a policy that must be “human and empathic”, of environmental protection “as a task in our time and of my generation”. The parliamentarian who grew up on a farm in Lower Saxony said that “the future is not something that happens: we have it in our hands”.
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Compact party
The Greens have finally chosen, after being tortured for months, at every talk show, every interview, every press conference. And they have demonstrated a compactness and a confidentiality that borders on miracles, in the era of hyper-accelerated communication. We will decide between Easter and Pentecost: and so it was. We will not anticipate anything, and we did. Nobody spoke, not even with the microphones turned off. And the decision was made by Baerbock and Habeck alone – and even this top-down choice, in the party that has always had a very strong link with the grassroots – is surprising. All tangible symptoms of a party that the two current leaders have really managed to reunite deeply. At least, for now – at the latest when it comes to sharing government responsibilities, especially if the partner is the CDU / CSU, internal tensions could re-emerge, especially on defense and public finance issues.
More stringent climate targets
In March the Greens have already presented their program which will be voted on at the next congress. Baerbock’s party wants to make Germany’s climate goals more stringent: “we must return to the 1.5 degree path” of global warming, says the program presented in March. By 2030, the Gruenen are aiming for a 70% cut in CO2 emissions and want to raise the price for C02 faster than previously expected (from 2023 they want to raise it to 60 euros per ton; at the moment it is worth 25). Among other things, Baerbock’s party wants to break down the taboo of the absence of speed limits on German motorways and set it at 130 km / h and massively expand the supply of wind energy.
By 2030, Germany must have completed its exit from coal, but the Greens are also aiming for that date to ban the registration of cars that are not zero-emission. The beacon, Baerbock said at the presentation of the program that will be voted on at the next congress of German environmentalists, is the Paris Agreement: “a government that does not aim to return to the Paris path does not need the Greens,” he stressed “.
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The possible agreement with the CDU-CSU and the frictions on finance
A key chapter of the program is the economic and financial one. Which could create a lot of friction with the CDU / CSU, if the next government, as many predict, were to be between conservatives and Gruenen. In addition to a massive public investment program, the Greens are calling for a relaxation of the rules for public finances. The famous Schuldenbremse, the balanced budget engraved in the German Constitution, will need to be softened. “In the case of investments that create new public value, we allow limited indebtedness”, reads the Greens’ electoral proposal.
Another issue that could scare the moderate electorate: the Gruenens are proposing a property tax: one percent on wealth exceeding two million euros. Even on defense, the Greens risk making the CDU / Csu turn up their mouths: no to the NATO target of 2% military spending. As for immigration, after a tormented internal debate, the leaders have decided not to make it a priority theme of the electoral campaign, but the reception camps at the external borders of the EU are defined as “sensible”. And the Greens propose that countries that welcome more migrants be guaranteed financial support through an EU fund.
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