Germany: New air in the leadership of the Greens

Ministers Analena Berbock and Robert Hubbek have resigned from the leadership of the Greens. New leaders are feminist Ricarda Lang and Iranian-born Omid Nuripour.

A change of page in the leadership of the German Greens, necessary as provided by their statutes, with the positions of the party leadership being incompatible with ministerial posts. The two former party leaders successfully led the Greens in last September’s federal elections to the government. Analena Berbock is now Foreign Minister with positive first hand samples as head of German diplomacy and Robert Hubbek, Vice Chancellor and Minister of Economy and Climate Protection.

At the party’s weekend convention, 28-year-old Ricarda Lagg, a Green Party spokeswoman for the Greens, took over the leadership of the ruling Greens, and Omid Nouripou, a 46-year-old Iranian named

The youngest co-president in the history of the Greens

With 76% of the party members’ votes, Ricarda Lang becomes the youngest Co-Chair of the Greens in the party’s history. He was born in 1994 in Fielderstadt in Baden-Württemberg. After school she began studying law in Heidelberg and Berlin, without having completed her studies. He became politically active in the Greens in 2015, holding various positions: representative of the party Youth, member of the Youth Bureau, representative of the Greens for gender issues in 2019 and from 2021 member of the German parliament.

Recently, her name was involved in a scandal of accepting a special “coronavirus bonus” of 1,500 euros, which, however, she has returned. However, the Berlin prosecutor’s office continues to investigate the case, in which Lang’s name is involved for infidelity.

For her, as she stated speaking on DW television, the big bet is “for more people to come close to the Greens, to trust them, especially in rural areas”. The Greens must also “convince themselves that their involvement in government makes a difference, improving the daily lives of low-income people or those living far from urban centers.”

Omid Nuripur: From Tehran to the Bundestag

Born in Tehran in 1975 to a biologist mother and an economist father, Omid Nuripour immigrated with them to Frankfurt at the age of 13. There he went to school and began to study various subjects at the University of Mainz (German Philology, Philosophy, Sociology, Law) but without completing his studies. At the same time he had started to be active in the Greens. The first political successes at the federal level soon followed: he was first elected to the Bundestag in 2006 and then in the 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2021 elections.

Omid Nuripour, who was elected to the party leadership with almost 83% of the vote, believes that the political momentum in the international political arena is so critical that at the moment it is important that the three government partners are “united” in foreign policy. given the strained relations with Russia.

The challenges and memories of 1998

For both Nuripur and Lag, the Greens’ involvement in the government is a major challenge. “Governing is not a punishment, but a great opportunity,” Lang said. This position converges with the Burbok-Habeck line, for whom, as they stated at the party congress, it is more important for the Greens to have the power of government influence especially in such a critical period (pandemic, energy crisis, Ukrainian) than just to criticize. to the government.

The Greens first joined the German government in 1998, under Social Democrat Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, with Foreign Minister Joska Fisserapo in the Greens. They quickly found themselves in a difficult position, when a large portion of the electorate was disappointed with Germany’s involvement in NATO intervention in Kosovo. As ARD journalist Christian Feld observes, “1998 is definitely not the same as 2021. But Lang and Nuripur would like to avoid such a role.”

Dimitra Kyranoudi, Berlin

Source: Deutsche Welle