The difficult relationship between the Greens and the climate movement has often been described. On the one hand the fight for votes and parliamentary majorities, on the other hand maximum pressure from the streets. Although they more or less agree on the goals, these different understandings of roles regularly cause disappointment and anger.
At best, both sides benefit from this unstable and conflict-ridden balance of power: the climate movement remains credible by (also) rubbing shoulders with the Greens, while the Greens use the pressure from the streets for their policies. The federal party has recently achieved this balance better than it seemed. The party allowed the protest about the demolition of the village of Lützerath to roll off relatively generously. A little later, she pushed through a law at the traffic light that bans the installation of pure gas and oil heating systems from 2024.
Daniel Boldt is a state political correspondent and has been observing the Berlin Greens for a long time.
The Berlin Greens, on the other hand, still seem to be looking for their relationship with the climate movement. Admittedly, the requirements are somewhat different than in the federal government. The Greens have governed Berlin for six years now. They were not able to grow alongside the climate movement, as the opposition parliamentary group had long been able to do.
Questionable handling of the climate referendum
But even under these mitigating circumstances, the handling of the Berlin Greens with the climate movement often does not appear sovereign. Or at least not thought through to the end. During the election campaign, leading candidate Bettina Jarasch allowed herself to be carried away into publicly supporting the climate referendum – and with it a law that she and her parliamentary group had rejected in parliament a few months earlier. Was that conviction? Then Jarasch has to put up with the accusation that, as a politician, she had not followed it before. Or was it strategy? Then the question arises who Jarasch actually wanted to convince – apart from those who are already inclined towards the Greens.
Now, with half a leg in the opposition, Jarasch is back in charge of the state. Distances itself from the protests of the “last generation” and insists on concrete measures – which the group, unlike the climate referendum, even calls for. That may be right, but again one asks oneself: What strategic considerations are behind publicly distancing oneself from allies (as far as the goal is concerned) as an opposition party-to-be?
The Berlin Greens could learn a lot from the federal party in dealing with the climate movement. Incidentally, the federal headquarters of the Greens and the Berlin party are only three kilometers apart. The twelve minutes by bike could be worth it in the future.
