Support for the CSU candidate: The Greens are giving away their profile

In this case, the Greens were cheap. Ilse Aigner, chosen by the Union as the next Federal President, is female, democratic, friendly and otherwise not bad by CSU standards. That's enough for the leading Greens, so on Monday they suggested to their people that they vote for their candidate in the Federal Assembly together with the black and red parties.

If that doesn't hurt the Greens. They have been struggling with skepticism among left-green swing voters for years anyway. From their point of view, the hand remains too far outstretched towards the CDU/CSU, even though the Union has clearly moved to the right. They already punished the Greens for this in the 2025 federal election.

Almost two years later, there are signs of a shift in the majority. In surveys, a green-red-red majority is within reach, and center-left coalitions are currently being negotiated in two federal states. In the case of Berlin, these talks are openly criticized by the federal leadership of the Green Party. There are good reasons for this given the amateurism of the capital's left, but it still reinforces the impression among left-green voters: They don't want an alternative to the Union.

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In this situation, the Greens are now deciding to support Ilse Aigner, who may have a clear stance against the AfD within the Union, but still maintains a clear CSU profile. Unlike the SPD, the Greens are not doing this out of coalition constraints, not for something in return and not because without Green votes there would be no democratic majority.

They do it, as party and faction leaders say, to “set an example” – against division and polarization, for the democratic center. For some of their own clientele, however, this democratic center is more of a threat than a promise: the prospect of a black-red-green coalition after the next federal election, with the Greens weak in assertion and a Union that is increasingly open to the right.

The Greens actually have a mantra when it comes to coalition issues: We can deal with almost everyone and we don't commit ourselves before elections. Accordingly, they could also nominate their own candidate. A personality who may not come from party politics but still stands for green values; which will lose foreseeably, but will not be damaged. There could still be a bouquet of flowers for Aigner from the Green Party leadership afterwards. This would not deepen any rifts in the party. But still show what she stands for.