A lack of self-confidence is not a problem for the Greens. "We support this state, we support this society, we support this democracy," party leader Omid Nouripour calls into the hall at the party conference in Bonn on Saturday. His next words from the Greens as "the force that pulls the cart" are almost drowned out by the thunderous applause of around 800 delegates.
At their first party congress for a long time, the Greens are celebrating with full force the joy of government responsibility. Due to the corona virus, they only came together in a small format or largely digitally for almost three years. "The basis of green politics is justice, the principle is responsibility." Co-party leader Ricarda Lang uses the V-word so often that you can hardly keep count. That brings with it hostilities, but: "Anyone who stands in the storm can also get wet." Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said she recently had to wear a protective vest during the Lower Saxony election campaign - just like in Mali and Ukraine.
The former long-standing co-chair of the Greens group in the European Parliament, Ska Keller, warned the delegates that the Greens were often attacked for their work, so: "Be nice to one another!"
Support, orientation and explaining the world
Before entering the traffic light government with the SPD and FDP, the Greens formulated their claim to power and sounded so state-supporting as if they had long been at the switchboards of federal politics.
But the green claim goes much further: the party also wants to be a world explainer, offering people in the country support and orientation. The motto of the party congress: "When our world is in question: Answer". In contrast to the CDU, which, as several speakers noted, was losing on the sidelines with its party convention resolution for a compulsory social year.
The Greens, on the other hand, are turning the big wheel in Bonn. Strengthen their Economics Minister Robert Habeck in the nuclear dispute with the FDP: The party approves - if necessary - limited continued operation of two German nuclear power plants until April 15, but rejects the procurement of new fuel rods . With a large majority, delegates approve a motion on social cohesion in times of inflation. It emphasizes that the new citizens' allowance and the increase in basic security benefits are correct, but not sufficient - especially in view of the current enormous price increases.
Subdued belligerence surprised
Many observers of the party conference rubbed their eyes in astonishment on Friday evening after the delegates ended the discussion on inflation and nuclear power without any major arguments and faster than planned. What's going on there? In government responsibility and in the face of numerous crises, are the Greens no longer wild but streamlined? The discussions were constructive, but "with very many different perspectives," explains Federal Managing Director Emily Büning the next morning, almost sounding as if she had to apologize for the civilized tone in the hall.
The Greens gained ground in elections, partly because they trusted the people in the country, says party leader Nouripour. "This democracy is robust." The polls, which see the party head-to-head and sometimes even ahead of the chancellor party SPD, are likely to caress the green soul.
It is not a law of nature that the AfD sits in the state parliaments and in the Bundestag. Nouripour describes the right-wing populists as "Moscow's fifth column." "Is it all easy?" he asks rhetorically. "No. But if it were easy, Markus Söder could do it too."
