The Greens have rejected the accusation by SPD chief Lars Klingbeil that they want to become junior partners of the Union as a diversionary tactic. Criticism also came from the CDU. “Every year, the SPD warns of a black-green coalition, only to then flee into a new coalition with the CDU at the next opportunity” said Green Party chairman Felix Banaszak to the “Tagesspiegel”.
He understands Klingbeil’s criticism “as a maneuver to divert attention from the poor popularity ratings of Olaf Scholz” said Banaszak. Green Party chancellor candidate Robert Habeck is making “a very serious offer of an alternative to the fight between yesterday and the day before, which Olaf Scholz and Friedrich Merz are staging.” This offer of Habeck’s is finding “growing acceptance from week to week.”
Klingbeil had previously accused the Greens of seeking a government alliance with the CDU and CSU. “The Greens want to be junior partners of the Union. They’re not playing for a win. They’re practically throwing themselves at Merz’s neck. That’s what distinguishes the Greens from the SPD” said Klingbeil to the “Tagesspiegel.”
Former Green Party chairman Omid Nouripour accused the SPD of lacking sincerity. “The SPD made Merkel chancellor three times, not the Greens” he said to the newspaper: “The Germans’ memory should not be underestimated.”
Klingbeil also faced opposition from the Union: “The SPD is losing their way” said Dennis Radtke, chairman of the CDU’s worker’s wing CDA, to the “Tagesspiegel”. The SPD’s pursuit of catching up is not making progress, “so the SPD is now afraid of not even getting to sit at the table as junior partners.” The SPD has been in power, with a brief interruption of only four years, since 1998, said Radtke: “They need to take a longer break and find themselves.” The necessary foreign policy changes “will not be made with the SPD’s Moscow connection.