Political drumbeat
Media: Top of the German Green Party resigns
A political bombshell for Germany's Greens: the two leaders, Ricarda Lang (30) and Omid Nouripour (49), announced on Wednesday that the party leadership is resigning as one.
"We have come to the conclusion: We need a new start. Sunday's election result in Brandenburg is testimony to the deepest crisis our party has faced in a decade," said Nouripour at a press conference in Berlin on Wednesday morning.
Series of election defeats for the Greens
The Greens had recently suffered heavy defeats in the state elections in the eastern German states of Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg, as well as in the European elections in June, and in some cases were kicked out of the state parliaments.
Lang: "Not the time to stick to the chair"
We now need "new faces to lead the party out of this crisis", said Lang. The election of a new executive committee at the federal party conference in November should be a "building block for the strategic repositioning of this party". Lang added: "Now is not the time to stick to the chair - now is the time to take responsibility, and we are taking on this responsibility by making a fresh start possible."
Lang and Nouripour have led the party since the beginning of 2022 and would normally be in office until at least the end of 2024. They did not comment on their successors. State Secretary for Economic Affairs Franziska Brantner and Member of the Bundestag Felix Banaszak are apparently being discussed. Brantner is a close confidant of Economics Minister Robert Habeck, who could lead the Greens into the next federal election as candidate for chancellor. Banaszak was formerly party leader of the Greens in North Rhine-Westphalia and is an important mastermind of the left wing.
In addition to Lang and Nouripour, the current Green Party board also includes deputy party chairpersons Pegah Edalatian and Heiko Knopf, managing director Emily Büning and federal treasurer Frederic Carpenter. According to Lang, the board will remain in office until the new elections at the party conference.
Habeck: "Resignation is a great service to the party"
Habeck described the announced resignation as a "great service to the party". "This step shows great strength and foresight. Ricarda Lang and Omid Nouripour are proving what party chairmanship means to them: responsibility. They are paving the way for a powerful new beginning. This cannot be taken for granted, it is a great service to the party," said Habeck.
Habeck went on to say: "We have had a tough few months, the Greens have faced a strong headwind." The defeats in the last elections were undoubtedly influenced by the national trend. "We all bear responsibility here, including me. And I also want to face up to it."
SPD thanks for cooperation
Meanwhile, SPD leaders Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil thanked the resigning Green leadership for their cooperation. "We have always discussed and clarified things together at the top of our two parties in a reliable and trusting manner," they said in a joint statement. "Despite some differences in terms of content, this partnership was very pleasant because it was also resilient on a human level." They therefore thank Nouripour and Lang "from the bottom of their hearts". They did not make any statements on possible effects on the traffic light coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP.
Meanwhile, Thorsten Frei, Parliamentary Secretary of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, sees the change in the leadership of the Greens as a sign that the traffic light coalition is falling apart. "The centrifugal forces in the traffic light coalition continue to increase," said the CDU politician on Wednesday. "With the resignation of the entire Green party executive, the coalition is crumbling in front of the cameras."
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