{"id":64203,"date":"2021-04-30T11:00:52","date_gmt":"2021-04-30T01:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=64203"},"modified":"2021-04-29T16:40:22","modified_gmt":"2021-04-29T06:40:22","slug":"germanys-green-velvet-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/germanys-green-velvet-revolution\/","title":{"rendered":"Germany\u2019s green velvet revolution?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the last 50 years, Germany has experienced three miracles. The one-time sick man of Europe became an Exportweltmeister<\/em> (export world champion). It also overcame its past (Vergangenheitsbew\u00e4ltigung<\/em>). And it built a political and economic union in which its former enemies have become friends. But now the comfortable world forged by these miracles is crumbling, leaving Germany\u2019s governing party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), acting like a deer caught in headlights.<\/p>\n

Rightly proud of what they have achieved, Germans are reluctant to take lessons from other Europeans, particularly those who seem to have mishandled their own affairs. But in this crucial election year, outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel<\/a>\u2019s signature method of muddling through is showing signs of strain. With the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), divided over who should succeed her, Germany\u2019s Greens suddenly have a historic opportunity.<\/p>\n

While the CDU\/CSU has overruled<\/a> its own voters by tapping CDU leader Armin Laschet as its candidate for chancellor, the Greens have nominated their energetic, 40-year-old co-leader Annalena Baerbock for the job. In a country that is deeply resistant to change, Baerbock promises reform without disruption\u2014a velvet revolution. As the Greens put it in their draft election program: \u2018We will bring some good traditions to bear in new ways, establish some new things, and replace some familiar things. But we will create security in the transition.\u2019<\/p>\n

The Greens party certainly has managed to reform itself. Not too long ago, it was seen as a Verbotspartei<\/em> (prohibitionist party), most known for shaming and lecturing Germans about the virtues of vegetarianism. Now, it\u2019s the party that most embodies optimism for what Germany could be. Rather than demanding that Germans give up their lifestyles, the Greens are promising to make Germany a better version of itself, by opening up new pathways to prosperity to replace those that are in danger of becoming obsolete.<\/p>\n

For example, the party envisions a green industrial policy to reinvent Germany\u2019s economic base so that it will remain competitive in a world that is moving away from fossil fuels. As the Greens\u2019 Franziska Brantner explained to me, this process would have climate and digital strategies at its core. \u2018If we don\u2019t take that train\u2019, she warns, \u2018we will stand for a lost economic model. The old model was great: it allowed us to trade with everyone, to make a lot of money without making almost any contribution to security. It was great but, unfortunately, it cannot last.\u2019<\/p>\n

The Greens recognise that the only way the German car industry can survive is by focusing on emissions-free cars; hence, the party has a plan to make Germany a world leader in energy cell production. The party also wants to reduce Germany\u2019s dangerous dependence on exports to China and imports of hydrocarbons from Russia, and to invest in programs to support high-tech start-ups and cloud-computing infrastructure.<\/p>\n

The Greens have also abandoned the traditional leftist scepticism of patriotism. The title of the party\u2019s draft election program can be loosely translated as \u2018Germany has it all\u2019. Germany has everything it needs to face the challenges of the future.<\/p>\n

In a telephone interview, Cem \u00d6zdemir, a former party leader, emphasised the need to engage with debates about national identity. \u2018With immigration and globalisation\u2019, he explained, \u2018We need to have a discussion about what it means to be German. It was a mistake that progressives largely ignored the discussion during the refugee crisis. It allowed others to take over the territory.\u2019 In a stark departure from the past, Greens today frequently use terms<\/a> such as \u2018Heimat<\/em>\u2019 (homeland), and openly discuss how the idea of Germanness can be modernised.<\/p>\n

When it comes to Europe, the Greens want to move from Merkel\u2019s \u2018nein<\/em>, nein<\/em>, nein<\/em>\u2019 policy to one based on proactive engagement. In a recent interview<\/a> with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung<\/em>, Baerbock pointed out that Germany can have a strong foreign policy only if it acts in concert with the rest of Europe. She wants to help build a European Union that is sovereign and committed to acting in line with its values\u2014including in the relationship with China.<\/p>\n

For her part, Brantner hopes that Germany can overcome the \u2018two generational lies\u2019 underpinning its European policy. The first lie is that Germany can focus merely on the economy, while ignoring investments in security. \u2018We cannot continue trading with everyone, making big profits and hoping that others will secure our sovereignty\u2019, she told me. \u2018If we don\u2019t agree with everything [French President Emmanuel] Macron<\/a> says, we should put forward our own ideas.\u2019<\/p>\n

The second lie is that Europe can have a joint currency without a joint investment policy or budget, simply by relying on the European Central Bank. Brantner believes that it is time \u2018to have a real debate about this in Germany\u2019.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Greens understand that after decades of remarkable success, Germany\u2019s position has become precarious. As China and America battle it out, globalisation risks being thrown into reverse at a time when the digital revolution is eclipsing Germany\u2019s traditional economic strengths.<\/p>\n

Germany\u2019s remarkable engagement with its own history does not offer a model for integrating a more multicultural and religiously diverse population. And the failure of successive governments to acquaint the German public with the details of European policy has made it difficult to secure consent for EU-level measures that would serve Germany\u2019s own interests.<\/p>\n

Sigmund Freud offered an apt portrait of today\u2019s Germany when he described patients who were \u2018wrecked by success\u2019. In the Greens, however, the country might just have found the cure to this affliction. It may seem strange that a party with revolutionary origins and aspirations would enter the race for the chancellery with promises of prudent, calibrated reform. But that\u2019s what happens when a party gets serious about actually governing, rather than forever campaigning from the sidelines.<\/p>\n

Much could happen between now and the federal election in September. But never before have the Greens started a campaign in such a strong position.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the last 50 years, Germany has experienced three miracles. The one-time sick man of Europe became an Exportweltmeister (export world champion). It also overcame its past (Vergangenheitsbew\u00e4ltigung). And it built a political and economic …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":529,"featured_media":64206,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[83,325,694,376],"class_list":["post-64203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-elections","tag-europe","tag-germany","tag-politics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGermany\u2019s green velvet revolution? | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/germanys-green-velvet-revolution\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Germany\u2019s green velvet revolution? | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the last 50 years, Germany has experienced three miracles. 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