from our correspondent
BERLIN – It was supposed to be a coronation ceremony. It had to be the event he consecrated Annalena Baerbock as queen of the Grnen and first official candidate for chancellery in the history of the German environmental party. It was supposed to be the start of an electoral campaign, which for the first time in over forty years sees the Greens credibly aspire to lead the country.
The state, but only in part. The congress that closes today in Berlin rather, it tried to limit the damage caused by a disastrous start to the race towards the vote on September 26, by putting the ecological train back on the tracks. A debut marked by incredible mistakes, almost all self-inflicted, of Baerbock, as well as from the eternal call of the forest, which the fundamentalist wing of the party wants (this time Fridays for Future) advance maximalist demands whose main effect is to frighten the centrist voters, the object of the desire of the new course of the party.
It must be said immediately that despite the decline in polls in recent weeks, the prospects for the Grnen remain promising. I am no longer in front of the CDU-CSU, as happened in May after the appointment of Baerbock as Chancellor candidate, but still around 22% of voting intentions remain, compared to 8.9% in the 2017 elections and with a delay of just 6 points compared to the Conservatives. In this sense the co-president Robert Habeck is right, who opened the congress he defined the one in progress is the election campaign of our life. The prevailing opinion of analysts and commentators that, however it will end in the fall, the Grnen will be part of the next ruling coalition.
But the pains of the young Baerbock, who went from a 60% approval to less than 30% in just one month, remain. And they force her and the party to change gear. How was such a collapse possible? A mixture of amateurism, sloppiness, vanity, underestimation of the challenge and, last but not least, misogyny produced the explosive mixture. First were the bonuses (legitimate and correctly reported to the tax authorities) paid by the party to Baerbock but communicated late to the Bundestag, as required by the regulation on the transparency of the revenues of the deputies.
Then came the embellishments or inaccuracies discovered in the resume of the young candidate, who for example defined herself as a member of German Marshall Fund when instead it was only a fellow. I was sloppy, Baerbock said, admitting mistakes and apologizing. Too late, however, to prevent criticism from traditional media and opponents, but above all the cany of social networks, where in any case, even before the gaffes emerged, Baerbock had been the subject of slander, sexist tweets and fake news.
The mistakes were not hers alone. Even Habeck, the philosopher lent to politics, has created confusion by proposing during a visit to Ukraine, to supply defensive weapons to Kiev, in contrast with the official line of the party, only to have to take back everything.
The Greens want to look ahead and fight for now. Confirmed with the support of 678 delegates out of 688, an impressive demonstration of unity equal to 98.5% of the votes, Baerbock immediately tried to relaunch its image with a combative and passionate speech. The new social market economy will also have to be green, he said, launching the proposal a pact with German industry, on the basis of which the State will reimburse all the additional costs that companies will have to incur to make their productions climate neutral. Baerbock also said that with the Grnen in government, the shutting down of coal-fired plants will have to happen much faster than previously planned.
Congress also addresses the challenge of the fundamentalists, who have proposed an avalanche of amendments to the electoral program. For example, they wanted to increase the tax on CO2 emissions from 60 to 80 euros per ton by 2023. The proposal was rejected. Another request is to increase the maximum tax rate on the incomes of individuals exceeding 100 thousand euros to 48% (the program foresees 45%).
June 12, 2021 (change June 12, 2021 | 21:53)
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