Greens in East Germany: Between frustration, hostility and alarm calls!

Greens in East Germany: Between frustration, hostility and alarm calls!

The Greens have come under massive pressure in East Germany. How dw.com reports, the political challenges for the party could not be greater. After withdrawing from the governing coalition in May 2023, the Greens are in opposition and therefore have the difficult task of renewing contact with their voters.

In Thuringia, the Greens are particularly hard hit by hostility. Felix Kalbe, city councilor for the Green Party in Gotha, describes drastic experiences with death threats and physical attacks. He describes his cry for help to the party leadership as a “desperate cry for help”. The co-chair of the Green Party, Felix Banaszak, sought a conversation in Halberstadt to find out the reasons for the hostile mood. Above all, the growing number of refugees in the region, around 1,000, has increased the rejection.

hostilities and misinterpretations

The fact that voters in the East often perceive the Greens as “high-earning idealists from the big city” is highlighted by political scientist Nina Kolleck. The Greens have virtually no established base in rural regions and are only weakly anchored in the East. The current number of members of around 180,000 in Germany speaks for itself: only around 12,000 of them come from the East. This can also be seen in the survey results, where the Greens in Saxony-Anhalt only achieved three percent for the coming election.

Meanwhile, the board advisory board is considering Alliance Green East in order to integrate the region's concerns more closely into party politics. Banaszak is planning to set up a citizens' office in Brandenburg an der Havel and demands that members of the Bundestag have to be more present for the East.

Political challenges and perspectives

The Green Party's most prominent face, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, was recently in Chemnitz, where she campaigned for German arms deliveries - an issue that is viewed more critically in the East than in the West. She received applause, but at the same time right-wing extremist groups protested outside the door. On such fronts, the Greens must continually take a stand, while at the same time enduring accusations of being perceived as “warmongers.”

Green Party politician Franziska Schubert is calling for more of the municipalities' problems to be heard in asylum policy. The upcoming state elections in 2024, especially in Saxony, pose major challenges for the Greens. It remains to be seen whether the party can win back voters in East Germany. Co-chair Banaszak emphasizes that the Greens do not want to give up on the East and need to talk to each other more in order to better understand and address people's concerns.

The pressure on the party is enormous because the AfD has had great success in the East, while the Greens are struggling with a dysfunctional political infrastructure. tagesschau.de reports that the CDU sees the Greens as the main opponents in the federal government and that this does not make the situation any easier.

The place for change could therefore be a better hearing and a deeper understanding of the realities of people in the East. A rethink in the party leadership could be crucial in leading the Greens out of their current misery and perhaps also in surviving the upcoming elections in Saxony and the rest of the East.

The road is rocky, but with a clear plan and an honest examination of the circumstances, the green renewal in the East could succeed - it remains exciting.