Faced with conservatives embroiled in an internal power struggle, the environmental party German on Monday appointed its co-president, the rising Annalena Baerbock, as a candidate for chancery for the legislative elections in September.
“The first green candidate for the Chancellery will be Annalena Baerbock”, who “will guide us in this campaign” with a view to the September 26 elections, announced at a press conference the other party president, Robert Habeck, who was also running for the candidacy.
Baerbock, 40, a jurist specializing in international law and a former athlete, has never held a government position.
“Today we begin a new chapter for our party and – if we do it well – for our country”, said Baerbock, a mother of two and whose popularity has grown in recent months with public appearances to criticize the government for its management of the pandemic.
Until now, the environmental party, which emerged as the terrible child of German politics but has moderated itself over the years, was content to appoint two leaders for legislative campaigns but never a candidate for chancellorship.
Unlike the Conservatives, who are torn apart in an infighting for succession after the 16-year reign of Angela Merkel, the Greens play the harmony card.
The chancellor conveyed her “congratulations” on the appointment, through her spokesperson Ulrike Demmer.
Baerbock will be the only woman candidate among the three main formations that aspire to the chancellery.
Eliminate any rivalry
Baerbock and Robert Habeck, 51, a doctor of philosophy, novelist and former regional minister, had promised to agree with each other and are working publicly to eliminate any rivalry. They have even declared to the magazine Der Spiegel that they are engaged in “a power struggle without a fight.”
The challenge is great for the Greens who all polls now designate as the probable second political force in the elections, behind the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) of Angela Merkel but in front of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).
With 20% -23% of voting intentions, they are on the heels of the CDU (27% -28%) in full decline and disoriented by the withdrawal of the chancellor from political life.
“With my candidacy, I would like to make a proposal to the whole of society”, declared Baerbock, presenting herself as the candidate for “renewal” and pointing out that “climate change is the greatest task” of her generation.
In addition to protecting the climate, he also considers it necessary to invest in the educational system, promote a “cosmopolitan society” and put “Germany at the heart of Europe”.
Among the possible coalitions that could emerge from the September elections, is an alliance with the conservatives or another, unprecedented at the federal level, with the SPD and the liberal FDP (Free Democratic Party).
CDU President Armin Laschet was quick to congratulate Baerbock, defending a “fair electoral campaign”.
The Social Democratic leaders also reached out to environmentalists with a view to forming a future “progressive government alliance.”
So far, the Greens have only managed to be minority partners in a government coalition led by the Social Democrat Gerhard Schröder, between 1998 and 2005.
Hailed in the European elections two years ago where they exceeded 20% of the votes, the Greens currently participate in 11 of the 16 regional governments and have just been elected to the head of one of the most prosperous regional states, Baden-Württemberg, heart of the automobile industry.
Proof of its popularity among a population concerned about climate challenges, its number of adherents has grown by more than 50% between 2016 and 2019.