The German Greens as an Alliance Party: The End of an Illusion?
At the Wiesbaden Congress in November 2024, Robert Habeck, currently Minister for the Economy and Climate, was nominated as the Green Party’s candidate for the Chancellorship in the early parliamentary elections on February 23, 2025. The party, founded 45 years ago, is now firmly established in the German political landscape. Wishing to turn the page on an unloved ‘‘traffic light’’ coalition, the party is banking on a personal campaign and an optimistic discourse based on the energy transition and social justice.
After a disastrous election year and with environmental and climate issues largely absent from the campaign, the challenges facing the ecologist party are numerous. Against a backdrop of crisis and extreme political fragmentation, the German Greens are positioning themselves as a bulwark against the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) and trying to convince voters of the compatibility between industrial decarbonization, economic recovery and social justice. On the eve of the federal election, this note looks back at the changes and the main challenges facing the Greens, whose success will depend on their ability to strike the right balance between winning the political center and defending a demanding climate and social policy.
Annette Lensing is a Senior Lecturer in German Studies at the University of Caen-Normandie and a member of the Research Team on Literatures, Imaginaries, and Societies (EA 4254), where she co-leads a research program on cultural and political conceptions of nature.
This publication is available in French (pdf): "Les Verts allemands comme parti de rassemblement. La fin d’une illusion ?"
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Notes du Cerfa, No. 185, Ifri, February 2025
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The German Greens as an Alliance Party: The End of an Illusion?
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The Study Committee on Franco-German Relations (Cerfa)
The Study Committee on Franco-German Relations (Cerfa) was created in 1954 by an inter-governmental agreement between the Federal Republic of Germany and France, in order to raise awareness of Germany in France and analyze Franco-German relations, including in their European and international dimensions. In its conferences and seminars, which bring together experts, political leaders, senior decision-makers and representatives of civil society from both countries, Cerfa develops the Franco-German debate and stimulates political proposals. It regularly publishes studies through two collections: Cerfa notes and studies as well as Franco-German visions.
Cerfa maintains close relations with the network of German foundations and think tanks. In addition to its research and debate activities, Cerfa promotes the emergence of a new Franco-German generation through original cooperation programs. This is how in 2021-2022, Cerfa led a program on multilateralism with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Paris. This program is aimed at young professionals from both countries interested in the issues of multilateralism in the context of their activities. It covered a wide range of themes relating to multilateralism, such as international trade, health, human rights and migration, non-proliferation and disarmament. Previously, Cerfa had participated in the Franco-German future dialogue, co-led with the DGAP from 2007 to 2020, and supported by the Robert Bosch Foundation and the Daniel Vernet group (formerly the Franco-German Reflection Group) which was founded in 2014 upon the initiative of the Genshagen Foundation.
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