After the surprising electoral success of Cem Özdemir in Baden‑Württemberg, Renate Künast warned the Greens against internal divisions.
“I would consider it a misuse of a brilliant result to turn it into an intra‑party debate about our orientation” the former federal minister told ”Der Stern”. “We must handle the fact that Özdemir will now bring his positions into national politics with an attitude of productive tension”.
Künast, who belongs to the left wing of the party, sees a lesson in the Baden‑Württemberg result: Özdemir “has shown extraordinarily that it is not enough to talk about caring for the whole country; you must fill that in with substance”. She stresses that every Green must ask herself: “Am I representing our ideas merely theoretically, or am I acting on them in practice?”
The challenges differ from state to state. “We must always give our candidates space to offer themselves for the entire country” she added. “We gain nothing by remaining small”.