Manuel Hagel, the CDU’s lead candidate for Baden‑Württemberg’s upcoming state election, said a week before the vote that the Green Party’s top candidate, Cem Özdemir, and the party itself were far from what their own platform actually stands for. In an interview with “Die Welt”, Hagel accused Özdemir of making promises that the Green Party would never meet, calling them dishonest. He followed that with a claim that Özdemir’s assertion that the Green Party is “auto‑friendly” is misleading, because “the fight against cars” is a core part of the Green Party’s founding myth. Hagel added that Özdemir is now trying to rebrand the Greens as a pro‑car party, thereby turning the struggle against cars into an attack on Germany’s prosperity and jobs.
Hagel also responded to Özdemir’s criticism of Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt’s decision to extend border controls. “It is one thing to lament the consequences of illegal immigration in editorial columns, but it is another to take concrete action against it. That’s apparently something the Green lead candidate refuses to do” Hagel said. “You can’t make grand speeches and then sit on the sidelines when the issue becomes urgent”.
Just before the election, two opinion polls had shown the Greens almost catching up with the long‑dominant CDU. A CDU‑Green coalition is currently seen as the most likely government configuration in the state parliament.