Profile: The Greens

Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen

The Green Party does pretty much what is says on the tin: their main focus is on ‘green issues’ and the environment – but they’re far from a single-issue party. The Greens are a broadly centre-left organisation, with a more middle-class profile than the social democratic SPD – traditionally partnering with each other in both local and national coalitions. But with the CDU seemingly losing faith in their traditional FDP allies, the old rules may not hold up for long...

The Green Party’s foundation in 1980 marked the coming of age of a new generation of politicians and activists – those untainted by Nazism, but willing to work within the system. The Greens themselves grew out of local environmentalist movements throughout West Germany in the 1970s, picking up feminist, peace and other (then) ‘alternative’ minded people along the way.

Their early success in sending representatives to the Bundestag in 1983 was a shock to the establishment – stuffy old men wearing suits were joined by longhaired types giving speeches in trainers, and even women. Of course, a movement so attached to an alternative mindset was bound to have teething pains. In 1985, when the Greens first had the opportunity to form a state government (with the SPD in Hessen), so-called ‘fundamentalists’ in the party objected to a dilution of green principles. ‘Realists’ – among them the later Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer – won the day, and the party got its first taste of power.

The strong showing of the SPD in 1998 allowed the Greens to enter national government for the first time. There were many successes for the Greens: environmentally-minded tax reform, a middle-term commitment to close German nuclear power plants as well as the introduction of civil partnerships – but foreign policy under Joschka Fischer posed a huge problem. Germany’s involvement in the Kosovo and Afghanistan conflicts was difficult for a party founded, in part, by peace activists and the Greens faced a string of crushing defeats on state level.

In 2002, the party narrowly avoided major defeat nationally after the government refused to join the US in the sabre rattling that would become the war on Iraq. The party also enjoyed a (brief) spike in popularity last year after the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant – leading to the first Green-led state government. The Greens currently score between 10% and 15% in national polls, consigned to the opposition ranks.

Most recently, the CDU has been making conciliatory noises towards the Greens. They backed a number of policies the Greens had campaigned on – including a nationwide minimum wage and setting a timetable for the end of Germany’s use of domestic nuclear power – moves seen to open up the possibility of a CDU/Green government on national level. While this is not without precedent – there have been a couple of state-level coalitions like this – it has been difficult for grassroots members to accept.

If a CDU/Green coalition is a possibility, the Greens – once a party of outsiders and non-conformists – could find themselves kingmakers come the next elections in 2013.