After the Berlin election: Why didn't the Greens want to win in Berlin?

The CDU shot itself in the foot before the election, the SPD has long since shot itself in the foot, and the AfD is comparatively weak. There has never been a better chance for the Greens to govern Berlin, the country's urban, cultural and political center. Berlin stands for Germany in the world, it can't just be about a few Kreuzberg scoundrels and their sensitivities. But if the “polarization entrepreneurs” (Steffen Mau) can now pounce on the election winner, the Left Party, this is also a consequence of the Greens’ crushing defeat.

The Greens did everything they could not to win this election. They ignored the gap and cozyed up to the Left Party. They stubbornly carry around folklore from the Wilhelminian era, starting with the “top duo”, divided into men/women and leftists/Reala. The top duo (“Werner & Bettina”) and also the top candidate, who remains as anonymous as possible, are traditionally an internal compromise and are under no circumstances selected based on whether they can win. The Berlin Greens insist that the bait must be to the taste of the angler and not the fish, says a Green insider.

These traditional Ströbele Greens have been relatively successful in elections in the past. In short: because there were enough leftists who could continue to dream the old 1968 dream of a more just and peaceful world, while real life went on comfortably. Now the following happened: The federal party finally had to deal with the contradictory, unpleasant reality in the traffic light government.

It continues to do so, for example in questions of geopolitics, the budget, security and defense. Nothing sexy at all. The worried young and the illusionary old people switch to the Left Party because their needs are served with identity-forming positions. For many young people, the political emotions are no longer about the lack of climate policy, but about Palestine and the longing for expropriation.

The Greens can no longer serve these new radical feelings. At the same time, the mix of a lack of economic activity, a lack of emotion and a diffuse perspective has meant that even some socio-ecological pragmatists of the Habeck generation no longer see what the point of voting for the Greens is. Except to secure a liberal democratic majority despite disappointment with the CDU/CSU and the SPD.

The Greens are currently essentially a functional party that must be able to form a coalition with all Liberal Democrats and also the Left Party, but without any claim to leadership.

Now the old left could say: Ha, that's what the Greens get from moving to the center of society. – No, that was a necessity that arose from the changing times and the rise of the AfD. This is the only way to lead a majority. I have just been warned by a well-meaning colleague that I should not “always” refer to Baden-Württemberg and its Prime Minister Cem Özdemir.

Apparently there are also taz readers who have fundamental reservations about this. At the same time, it cannot be denied that he went against the mood of the time and achieved a magnificent election victory and now covers the breadth of liberal society with his junior partner, the CDU.

How did he do that? Well, he really wanted to win, and he came up with a plausible story that goes something like this: The CDU and the Greens are holding society together under my leadership. This made his election possible for people who would not otherwise vote for the Greens.

And then of course he is Cem Özdemir. And not Bettina & Werner.