Intrigue divides party

Green phantom overshadows German election campaign

Robert Habeck sees himself as a candidate for chancellor.

(Bild: AFP/Axel Heimken)

Five weeks before the Bundestag elections, the German Greens are preoccupied with a phantom. A possible intrigue from within their own ranks threatens to overshadow the party's election campaign. A story about falsified identities and sexual harassment.

Research by the ARD radio station Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) suggests that a Green district politician made accusations of harassment against Berlin Green MP Stefan Gelbhaar under a false identity. Gelbhaar himself had always denied the allegations.

The German federal Green Party leaders Franziska Brantner and Felix Banaszak threatened to expel Gelbhaar from the party if the suspicion of an internal party intrigue against him was confirmed. "The suspicion that a false statement was made to the press against another party member with serious accusations is serious," they explained on Saturday at the request of dpa and "Welt am Sonntag".

"Anyone who makes false statements in lieu of an oath in such proceedings not only commits a criminal offense in case of doubt, but also causes considerable damage to the reported person, the party, but also the structures based on trust and the other reporting persons," the chairmen said. Until the party arbitration tribunal has reached a decision, the person will be "excluded from exercising all membership rights", the statement continued.

Doubts about the identity of the main witness
The allegations against Gelbhaar were made in December. According to the broadcaster, several women had assured Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, some anonymously and some on oath, that they had been harassed by Gelbhaar. Gelbhaar always denied all accusations. He nevertheless decided not to run for the state list.

On Friday, RBB then retracted parts of its reporting on the case. The public ARD broadcaster reported on its website that doubts had arisen about the identity of a person who had made such allegations. It has since been established that she was not the person she claimed to be, according to RBB. "There is a high probability that this woman does not even exist."

Broadcaster reports Green Party politician
Further research had led to a Green Party district politician, who the broadcaster found to have impersonated the person in question and made a sworn statement under a false name. RBB editor Thorsten Gabriel said in the "Abendschau" that the station had filed a criminal complaint.

With the developments regarding the main witness, the accusations against Gelbhaar are not completely off the table, Gabriel explained. "But at least one major accusation that we had reported on has been." However, there had been "other allegations" that the broadcaster had reported on. "The identities are not in doubt," the editor assured. The specific allegations he was referring to remained open.

Gelbhaar faces the ruins of his career
The accused himself sees himself as the victim of a defamation campaign. In an interview with "Business Insider" published on 9 January, the Green transport politician emphasized that he had never deliberately harassed anyone. There are also no criminal charges against him. "No, on the contrary. I have filed criminal charges against unknown persons for defamation."

The political damage for him is great. Gelbhaar was elected as a direct candidate for the Bundestag election for Berlin-Pankow in mid-November with 98.4 percent of the vote. In mid-December, he withdrew his candidacy for a place on the Berlin Greens' state list at short notice.

On New Year's Eve, he declared in a detailed statement on his website that the harassment allegations were a lie. The incident must have been "a partially planned action" with the aim of massively discrediting him. In a new vote organized by the Pankow district association, state representative Julia Schneider was elected as a direct candidate. The association said on Saturday that it was sticking with Schneider as the direct candidate.