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.
About the Author
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.