German Greens urge Scholz to become a more reliable EU partner

9 months ago 32

Leading members of Germany’s junior coalition partner, the Greens, challenged Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s commitment to a robust European partnership as the party charted its course for the EU elections at its annual conference that ended Sunday.

From Thursday to Sunday, the Greens hashed out their manifesto for the upcoming EU elections, dubbed “What protects us”, as the meetings focused on the group’s view on EU policies.

The pro-EU Greens have been influencing Germany’s European policy for over two years as part of the SPD-led threeway coalition, but leading Greens see the role of their partners critically.

“Germany must be a reliable partner at the European level, and Chancellor Scholz does not always embody this convincingly,” MEP Terry Reintke, who was elected the Greens’ lead candidate for the EU elections at the conference, told Euractiv.

As the EU’s largest economy, Germany needed to be a driving force on topics such as the green transition, investment, the reform of the bloc’s rigid debt rules, and support for Ukraine, Reintke argued, adding that the chancellor “too often allowed himself to be driven into the role of an obstructionist by his smallest coalition partner [the liberal FDP] instead of fighting for a fair, net-zero Europe.”

The Greens consider themselves fiercely pro-European, with co-leader Ricarda Lang telling delegates in her keynote speech that the EU was “not a sideshow but the basis of our political actions”.

While the coalition previously vowed to pursue “an active European policy and have a constructive claim to shape it”, the Greens bemoaned that their partners were not always living up to the promise.

Return of the ‘German vote’

Disagreement within the German coalition also has its effects at the EU level.

Although Germany’s last-minute veto of the EU ban on combustion engine cars from 2035, issued by FDP Transport Minister Volker Wissing earlier this year and retrospectively supported by Scholz, notoriously angered the Greens, they also questioned Germany’s abstention in the crucial vote on the extended use of the controversial pesticide glyphosate due to FDP opposition.

But on the sidelines of the conference, Chantal Kopf, the Greens’ lead MEP on European affairs, expressed fears that the disagreement-fuelled-abstentions that made headlines as the ‘German vote’ in the days of the grand coalition between the centre-right CDU/CSU and the SPD were making a comeback and “do not look good”.

In addition, the coalition’s lack of coordination in Brussels is also something that Germany’s EU ambassador has criticised in the past.

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Another controversial topic is the chancellor’s repeated hesitation regarding weapon deliveries to Ukraine, with Reintke publicly criticising Scholz after his speech in the European Parliament in May.

Now, Germany urgently needed to accelerate slow-moving negotiations on the EU’s next budget to top up financial aid to the country, she told Euractiv.

In general, more sensitivity for Europe was needed, Kopf said.

“The [coalition’s] focus is often directed inwards instead of coordinating with France or other European countries first,” Kopf told Euractiv, suggesting that “some [within the government] don’t always do so immediately”.

However, she was optimistic about progress on the long-neglected twin topics of EU reform and enlargement, arguing that France had converged on Germany regarding the matter and the two governments were visibly pushing things forward.

Green pragmatism

In general, as the conference showed, the Greens have adapted to the compromises that governmental responsibility entails in difficult times.

Delegates routinely passed the election manifesto, which focused on pragmatic issues such as infrastructure for the green transition and a proactive security policy.

A rogue proposal by pro-migration members to keep Green leaders from supporting stricter asylum rules was voted down.

One of the few major upsets occurred when Green members pushed through an amendment rejecting the EU’s trade agreement with the Latin American Mercosur bloc “in its current form”.

Ultimately, the party has embraced its executive role.

“Together with other Green governments (…) we can shape Green policies at the EU government level,” Reintke said.