Greens argue about grassroots democracy: Now we can vote again

At the beginning of July, the Green Party leadership was able to announce a success: their proposals for statutory reform had received the approval of the base in a member survey, and most of the points were even approved with a two-thirds majority. Now the federal executive board is surprisingly calling for another vote on the matter. At the beginning of December, the delegates to the federal party conference are also scheduled to vote on the reform.

The background to the decision is an appeal filed by a grassroots group against the reform process. In terms of content, she saw the changes as endangering grassroots democracy. Legally, she argued that a change to the statutes should not be decided on by ballot - and if so, then only with a quorum of 50 percent.

The matter was threatened with a long legal dispute, as the group first went to the party's Federal Arbitration Court and later also held out the prospect of lawsuits before regular courts. The federal executive board now wants to end this deadlock. In arbitration talks led by the former Thuringian Minister of Justice Dieter Lauinger, the board agreed to a compromise.

In the agreement from Tuesday, which is available to the taz, the board guarantees that it will vote at the party conference. The opposing side is “at liberty to submit amendments to any of the points changed in the ballot.” In return, the opponents of the reform will suspend their legal activities until the party congress and promise to withdraw their lawsuits completely afterwards if the party leadership actually sticks to the agreement.

"If they implement it that way, we can live with it. If that is not adhered to, we will reopen the lawsuit," said Klemens Griesehop, Berlin Green Party member and one of the plaintiffs, on Tuesday to the taz. “We don’t want to damage the federal executive board, but rather defend grassroots democratic opportunities for participation.”

It is undisputed that there are high hurdles for changing the statutes at a party conference: it requires a two-thirds majority and the participation of at least half of the delegates. However, the party leadership is counting on the fact that they will not ignore the members' vote and will wave the reform through in its entirety.

“The statutes apply,” a party spokesman told the taz on Tuesday. The grassroots voted on the reform proposals in the summer with an “extraordinarily high level of participation” and a “very large majority”. "A few members have doubts about the legality. We don't want to have a lengthy, expensive and time-consuming legal dispute over this." That’s why they agreed on a “pragmatic path” with the critics. The party conference will “expressly confirm the statutes in their current form once again”.

This decision is a political one and expressly not a legal one. “In our view, this additional vote is not necessary,” said the spokesman.

In total, the statute reform includes 17 individual changes. Among other things, Green members need more supporters than before to submit applications for party conferences. The separation of office and mandate on the board will be weakened and the party council, a kind of extended board, will be reorganized: In the future, more officials from parliamentary groups, governments and municipalities will sit there.