That is the surprising thing about this Friday evening: There are actually still rallies of the red-green-yellow traffic light parties where there is no shouting, whistling and abuse. Where there are no chants of “warmongers, warmongers” and “Free Palestine” trying to drown out the speakers. Where the police and security crews can blink almost relaxed into the low sun and at most a few gray-on-gray-clad pseudo-jokers from “The Party” provide distraction. The Greens’ European election campaign is coming to an end in the Cologne district of Ehrenfeld. It’s a bit like it used to be.
The party has put on a pretty big show on the square in front of the traditional Neptunbad. Annalena Baerbock is there, the foreign minister. Ricarda Lang and Omid Nouripour, the two party leaders. Terry Reintke, the European top candidate who is, however, only moderately well-known even after long weeks of election campaigning.
As well as Mona Neubaur, the Green NRW Minister for Economic Affairs. In her speech, she is particularly conspicuous in her efforts to unite with entrepreneurs and companies and advocates for a policy “that does not dictate what is good over people’s heads”, but for a policy “that invites, that forges alliances, perhaps even with those with whom we had not forged alliances ten years ago”.
Clear, black-green tones that have been heard more often from the Vice Chancellor recently. But Robert Habeck, who currently misses no opportunity to present himself as his party’s future candidate for chancellor, canceled his appearance at the final rally at short notice. Instead, this evening in Berlin he will be brooding over the 2025 federal budget with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP), which is likely to be even more forward-looking for the survival of the traffic light coalition than the result of the European elections this Sunday.
An unforeseen absence that actually prompts Habeck’s intra-party rival Baerbock to make a small dig. In recent months, she has almost stoically ignored the Vice Chancellor’s constant ambitions. Now she says: “And Robert Habeck – that’s the nice thing about working as a team in Alliance 90/The Greens – yes? – then two ministers can be in Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia at the same time and actually say exactly the same thing.”
And when she says “Yes?” she smiles so charmingly and mischievously at the audience that you could easily believe that she might steal the show from “dear Robert” again next autumn.
But it has not come to that, and it probably won’t come to that. In Cologne-Ehrenfeld, Foreign Minister Baerbock is standing on the podium and saying such very statesmanlike sentences:
“What incredible luck that we, our generation, have been able to grow up and live in peace and freedom throughout our lives. That is the greatest gift we have, and that is: the European Union.”
“That is why, especially these days, we are doing everything we can to ensure that the people of Ukraine, just a few hours’ flight away from us, can one day live in peace and freedom again. That is our responsibility.”
“We will support Ukraine as long as it needs us.”
“It is entirely in the hands of Vladimir Putin to finally get peace underway.”
“It is not a contradiction to make it clear: We are doing everything to ensure that people in Israel can live in peace, security and freedom. And we are doing everything to ensure that people in Gaza and the Palestinian territories can one day have their own state and also live in freedom and security.”
Big words, an ambitious election campaign speech, sure, but for now no hidden coup against the Vice Chancellor.
On this warm June evening, however, the Green Party leader is primarily responsible for attacking political opponents. In her emotional speech, Ricarda Lang personally attacks Friedrich Merz in particular. The Green Party leadership evidently continues to regard the CDU leader as an enemy image that optimally motivates its own clientele.
In Cologne, Lang accuses Merz of not having mentioned the flood disaster in southern Germany “even once” in his speech to the Bundestag on security last Thursday. A somewhat nitpicking accusation from which the Green Party leader also deduces that the Union has set out to roll back climate protection at the European level. “Friedrich Merz’s ignorance of climate policy,” Lang rages, is “a slap in the face of the people in the flood areas.” Great applause on Cologne’s Neptunplatz.
Despite all the commitment that the Greens are showing here, there is one thing they will not be able to prevent. The party will emerge as the biggest loser from the European elections on Sunday. The 20.5 percent that the Greens achieved five years ago will not be achieved this year, given the at best mediocre pre-election polls. A loss of five to seven percent seems realistic. Election researchers are not predicting losses of this magnitude for any other party.
The Greens have set their election target accordingly low. They do not want to do worse than the AfD on Sunday, it was said at a small party conference last weekend. According to calculations published on Thursday by the research group Wahlen (Politbarometer), the two parties are currently exactly tied in terms of voter approval at 14 percent. This is also why Ricarda Lang really turned it up at the end of her speech.
According to the Green Party leader, the European elections are also about “whether we or the AfD are ahead”. “Green or blue”. That is actually one of the more exciting questions that will have to be answered on this election Sunday.