It’s been a long road to fruition for the Green Party in Germany which started off as a fringe political organization in the early 1980’s.
Now, after coming in third in the national election and winning a robust 118 seats in the German Bundestag, the Greens are on the verge of becoming a governing partner.
The presence of the Greens in Berlin will have ramifications within the European Union and beyond as they will be able to promote their environmental and climate change agenda.
Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 9.28.2021
The environmentalist Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) emerged from the federal elections as kingmakers in a possible three-way coalition with either the Social Democrats (SPD) or the CDU/CSU conservative bloc. Both the major parties intend to court the support of the two smaller groups.
The Greens and the Free Democrats have held a first meeting on the long road to forming a new German coalition government. Both the SPD and the CDU/CSU hope to secure the support of the two kingmakers.
The leaders of Germany’s Green Party and the Free Democrats (FDP) met Tuesday for two-way negotiations seeking common ground before future coalition talks.
After the meeting, FDP leader Christian Lindner posted a photo on Instagram of himself and General Secretary Volker Wissing, alongside the Greens’ co-leaders Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck.
The caption read: “In the search for a new government, we are seeking out common ground and bridges over our divisions. And we are even finding some of those things. Exciting times.”
More details on what had been discussed were not provided.
Greens celebrate in 2021
The Greens and FDP have diverging political agendas on addressing issues such as climate change and economic policy, but do come together in areas such as progressive social policy.
https://www.dw.com/en/german-election-greens-and-fdp-meet-for-preliminary-two-way-talks/a-59346191
Top photo – Greens take to the streets in early days.
Lee's Perspective 