The German Greens, losing ground in the polls, asked on Saturday that the European Union review its copy of its asylum reform project, yet validated by the coalition of which they are members.
During a mini-congress in Bad-Vilbel (Hesse), the office of the Green Party asked in a motion that “improvements” be made to this draft agreement, which still has to go through the European Parliament.
Germany had indeed given its approval on June 9 to this text which provides in particular for the establishment of centers at the external borders of the EU for certain migrants, including families with children. It is this point in particular that ruffles environmentalists, fearing a questioning of the right of asylum.
The text also put the head of German diplomacy, Annalena Baerbock, at odds, who did not distance herself from the text adopted in Luxembourg by the interior ministers.
Saturday in front of environmental activists, the former candidate for the chancellery admitted that this project was “not great” and had also constituted a “heartbreak” for her.
For the co-president of the Young Greens, Timon Dzienus, “the opposition is even greater than at the time of Lützerath”, a village in western Germany evacuated to allow the extension of an open pit mine despite the mobilization of environmental activists.
Internally, executives are worried, according to the German press, of a wave of departures among the 120,000 party activists, who have fallen to 14% in voting intentions after believing they will win the chancellery in 2021.
But a possible total blocking of the draft agreement was very likely to open a crisis within the coalition, the SPD of Olaf Scholz supporting him completely.
“It has certainly been many years since the situation has been so dangerous for the” ecologist party, sums up the NTV news channel.
The “Grünen” are in particular left behind by the far-right AfD party, which has found new fuel for its growth in its opposition to climate policy and is credited, with around 20%, with unprecedented voting intentions.
The Green Party has paid a high price for its participation in government since 2021, alongside the Social Democrats of Olaf Scholz and the Liberals of the FDP.
The cohabitation with the latter, heralds of budgetary rigor and fierce defenders of the German automobile, is very delicate.
One personality in particular is causing public rejection: the Vice-Chancellor for the Environment and Minister for the Climate, Robert Habeck.
A scapegoat for the far right and the popular daily Bild, the most read in Germany, he is accused of wanting to curtail the freedoms of the Germans in the name of the fight against global warming.
“We are under pressure from all sides,” he lamented during the mini-congress. But, welcomed Mr. Habeck, “we are in the process of changing Germany, we have never done so much for climate protection as in the last fifteen months”.
This philosopher by training, potential candidate for the chancellery in 2025, is criticized for having tried to impose from next January on all new boilers to operate with at least 65% renewable energy.
The measure aroused such outcry in a context of inflation and recession that the number 2 of the government, under pressure from his liberal partners, had to revise his ambitions downwards.
Difficult to digest for the Greens who have had to swallow many snakes in recent years, from German rearmament to the reopening of coal-fired power stations, through the extension of nuclear power stations.
“It is very disappointing for the Greens to see that they are barely managing to translate their own convictions into concrete terms, precisely at a time when the climate crisis is worsening” and that a young generation of activists is stepping up their punches, explains political scientist Ursula Münch told AFP.
“The problem is that three partners with very different ideas must work together, and this at a time of existential crises”, she summarizes.
17/06/2023 19:25:43 – Bad Vilbel (Allemagne) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
