Green party chair Franziska Brantner warned against a return of the Grand Coalition and sharply criticized Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). “Chancellor candidate Scholz should not forget that he is the Chancellor” Brantner told the Funke Media Group newspapers (Monday editions). “You can’t talk about respect in the Bundestag and then miss the respect at the first opportunity.”
Brantner holds the Grand Coalition, which was replaced by the traffic light coalition in 2021, responsible for the difficult economic situation. “I don’t want an expensive standstill coalition that has led us into this mess because necessary renewals didn’t take place” she said. “A re-run of black-red can’t be afforded by Germany.”
The party chair is counting on a Greens’ election victory. “A lot will still happen by February. I remind you of 2021, when the SPD was still far behind two months before the election” she said. “Why should we not also succeed in catching up? In the chancellor polls, Robert Habeck is already clearly ahead of Olaf Scholz.” In the polls, the Greens are currently between 12 and 14 percent, and thus behind the Union, AfD, and SPD in fourth place.
Brantner also criticized CSU Chairman Markus Söder, accusing him of putting stable majorities in the Bund at risk. “We see in the East how difficult it is to find democratic majorities. It’s unsettling that Mr. Söder says you can’t govern with the Greens” she said. “Apparently, his competition in Bavaria with Mr. Aiwanger over ‘Who is the greatest Green-basher’ is more important to him than a stable federal government.