The Green Party has seen challenges to its core principles ever since it became part of Germany's three-party government. Pragmatism is forcing painful decisions on weapons exports, fossil fuels, and nuclear power.
The phase-out of nuclear power by the end of this year was one of the main issues at the recent Green Party conferenceImage: Ina Fassbender/AFP
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Whether it's that indie band going mainstream, or the underdog team selling out to big sponsors — success often forces compromise and the letting go of long-held ideals. But when it's a political party, there's more at stake than fans complaining about their favorite band sounding too polished. As a party born out of protest, the price of pragmatism is something Germany's Greens have come to learn all too well.
When in government in the late 1990s then-Foreign Minister and Green Party icon Joschka Fischer forced his party to say goodbye to pacifism and agree to Germany's first military mission abroad since the end of World War Two: The NATO involvement in Kosovo. This was a watershed moment of Green's "Realpolitik.”
More recently, as the Green Party climbed in the polls ahead of the 2021 federal elections, the "Basis" — the grassroots of the party — began voicing concerns that entering government would again mean a compromise on party principles and ideology.
Green Party Economy Minister and Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck has been applauded for his pragmatismImage: Ina Fassbender/AFP
Indeed, almost a year after entering government, the war in Ukraine has prompted Green Party leaders to spearhead calls for weapons deliveries to a war region. It has also forced Green Party Economy Minister Robert Habeck to put human rights issues and climate concerns aside in search of replacements for Russian gas and oil.
And now, the party that has its roots in the anti-nuclear movement of the 1980s, has had to accept that the country's remaining three nuclear power stations will keep on operating beyond the end of the year.
Germany and nuclear power — a love-hate relationship
Nuclear power has been celebrated, condemned, and banned in Germany. As energy imports from Russia came to an end, many began calling for it to make a comeback. Here's a look at the history of a love-hate relationship.
Image: Julian Stratenschulte/dpa/picture alliance
It all began with an 'egg'
Germany's first nuclear reactor went online in October 1957 in Garching near Munich. Given its shape, it was nicknamed the "atomic egg" and belonged to Munich's Technical University. It was a landmark in nuclear research and a symbol of a new beginning after WWII. In 1961, Germany began to produce energy for civilian use. Atomic energy was seen as safe and secure.
Image: Heinz-Jürgen Göttert/dpa/picture-alliance
The pushback begins
In the 1970s, opponents of nuclear energy questioned just how clean nuclear power was, seeing as there is no safe storage for spent fuel rods. Thousands of protesters clashed with police during a demonstration against the nuclear power plant Brokdorf, in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein. "Nuclear energy? No thanks," became the rallying cry for German environmentalists.
Image: Klaus Rose/imago images
'Nuclear energy? No thanks'
The danger of nuclear power soon became reality. On March 28, 1979, the plant at Three Mile Island, in the US state of Pennsylvania, had a serious accident. And on April 26, 1986, a reactor at the plant near Chernobyl, in Soviet Ukraine, exploded — causing an unprecedented nuclear disaster. A radioactive cloud spread across Europe. It was a watershed moment for Germany, with rotests gaining steam.
Image: Tim Brakemeier/dpa/picture-alliance
Birth of a new party
In 1980, a new party was founded in West Germany: the Greens. Their members were a mix of left-wingers, peaceniks, environmentalists — and a key contingency, nuclear opponents. The party made entered Bundestag, the German parliament, in 1983. Meanwhile, the Chernobyl accident prompted the creation of an environment ministry in Germany.
Image: AP/picture alliance
Wackersdorf: Tragedy and triumph
The Bavarian town of Wackersdorf was set to get a reprocessing plant for spent nuclear fuel rods, but riots broke out in protest. A number of demonstrators and civil service workers were killed, and hundreds more people were injured. Construction was halted in 1989. The German environmental movement claimed its first major victory — muted by the tragedy of lost lives.
Image: Istvan Bajzat/dpa/picture alliance
Gorleben: Radioactive waste in a salt mine
Meanwhile up north, the town of Gorleben — in the state of Lower Saxony — became a symbol of the fight against nuclear waste. The salt dome there was picked as an interim storage facility for nuclear waste. But already in 1977, a large-scale study revealed that groundwater was seeping in, corroding the barrels holding the waste. This of course posed a major risk of radioactive contamination.
Image: BREUEL-BILD/picture alliance
SPD-Green exit plans
Germany's exit from nuclear power has been marked by flip-flops. The center-left coalition of Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder intended the phaseout of nuclear energy in an agreement with big energy companies in 2001. An individual lifespan was determined for all 19 German nuclear power plants, requiring the last to be shut down by 2021.
Image: picture alliance
Rolling back — then rolling back the rollback
In 2010, the center-right government under Chancellor Angela Merkel revoked the deal and decided to extend the operating lives of Germany's nuclear power plants. But following the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima plant in Japan in 2011, Merkel abruptly announced the end to Germany's atomic era. In July 2011, the Bundestag voted to shut down all nuclear reactors by December 31, 2022.
Image: Michael Kappeler /dpa/picture alliance
Celebrating the end of nuclear energy in Germany
After years of especially intense protest, activists in the German towns of Grohnde, Gundremmingen and Brokdorf celebrated when the power plants there were switched off at the end of 2021. But the search for a safe waste repository continues. The nationwide location for a geologically suitable safe site for high-level radioactive waste is to be determined by 2031.
Image: Julian Stratenschulte/dpa/picture alliance
Should we stay or should we go?
In response to energy shortages due to the war in Ukraine, calls became louder to extend the lifespan of Germany's remaining three nuclear power plants. Green Party Economy Minister Robert Habeck (right) reluctantly agreed to put two of them on standby until mid-April. But FDP Finance Minister Christian Lindner advocated extending all remaining power stations' lifespan well into 2024.
Image: Michael Kappeler/picture alliance/dpa
The chancellor decrees an extension
The dispute between the FDP and the Greens turned into a crucial test for the German governing coalition, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the end making use of his directives authority. In a letter to the finance, economy and environment ministries, he communicated his decision: The three remaining nuclear power plants are to continue operating until April 15, 2023. Parliament may amend the law.
Image: Markus Schreiber/AP Photo/picture alliance
Phase-out completed... or is it?
When the last three reactors were switched off on April 15, 2023, reactions were mixed. Defenders of nuclear energy argue that it could help Germany meet its goal of carbon neutrality by 2045. And two-thirds of Germans surveyed favored extending the lifespan of nuclear reactors. So Bavaria's Premier Markus Söder vowed to seek a way to continue operating the Isar 2 power station.
Image: :Bayerische Staatskanzlei via SVEN SIMON/IMAGO
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Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz decreed this week that their lifeline be extended until April 15 — three and a half months after the legally required phase-out of nuclear energy in this country. The corresponding bill must still pass through parliament, but Green Party leaders have urged their lawmakers to support it.
The chancellor ended weeks of wrangling between his two coalition partners, which saw the Greens and their bid to keep only two southern German power plants on standby over the course of the winter pitted against the third coalition partner, the business-oriented Free Democrats (FDP), who wanted the nuclear phaseout to be rolled back till 2024.
"The fact that this decision was made by Chancellor Scholz, makes it easier for Green leaders to sell it to the party base," climate policy researcher Chantal Sullivan-Thomsett tells DW. "They can argue that the policy shift did not come because they failed to push their agenda hard enough or dropped a key component of the Green 'brand'."
Nuclear extension 'not about changing' Green party position
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Dissatisfaction in Northern Germany
What's being perceived by some Greens as a successful compromise, is seen as pragmatism going too far by others, not least of all the party rank and file in the Emsland, in the state of Lower Saxony, northwestern Germany.
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Robert Habeck had wanted to take the Emsland nuclear plant offline by the end of this year as planned. And Lower Saxony's Social Democrats and Greens had argued that continued operation was unnecessary, as the region produces a sufficient amount of wind energy to make ends meet. Greens co-leader Ricarda Lang criticized Scholz's decision to keep Emsland online as being "not necessary for grid stability."
Party members are "absolutely livid," says Birgit Kemmer, head of the Greens' district chapter in Emsland. The closure of the plant had been a major Green Party campaign issue in the recent regional election there on October 9, prompting them to use the slogan: "Bye-bye, nuclear power plants."
"Many voters here now feel they've been duped," says Kemmer.
"We've already had some party members leave since Scholz's decision. Emsland nuclear power plant was supposed to close. Now, of course, we're concerned that the operation of the plants could be extended again. Who's to say that new fuel rods will be bought?" she asks.
The Emsland power plant will continue operating until April 2023, although its fuel rods are almost spentImage: Rupert Oberhäuser/picture alliance
Southern German approval
The Greens' office in the city of Landshut in Bavaria is just a 20-minute drive from another of Germany's three remaining nuclear power plants.
"Given the current situation with the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis, a few extra months isn't causing too much upset down here," Frank Steinberger, spokesperson of the Greens' Landshut district chapter tells DW. "We've lived alongside the nuclear plant for so long."
"I wouldn't say there's a division in the party, but it's certainly facing a dilemma," he says. But this, he says, is a far cry from the fierce battles between the compromise-happy "Realos" (realists) and the radical "Fundis" (fundamentalists) which were the trademark of the Green Party for decades.
"Of course, there is an element of dispute, that's part of the Greens' DNA," Greens MP in the Bundestag Chantal Kopf tells DW. "But ultimately it's a success for the entire coalition if we can find a solution."
In her constituency of Freiburg, a long-time Greens stronghold. The demonstrations there in the early 1970s against a planned nuclear power plant on the edge of the nearby Kaiserstuhl mountain range marked the beginning of Germany's anti-nuclear energy movement.
In Freiburg "the discussion about extending the life of nuclear energy has been going on for months,” says Kopf. "I was surprised by how many constituents broadly support the extension. Ultimately, it's about keeping the situation stable and also showing our European partners that we are willing to make compromises."
Germany's Green party: How it evolved
Germany's Greens have been trailblazers for ecological movements around the world. But since the 1980s they have become increasingly mainstream.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Pfund
1980: Unifying protest movements
The Green party was founded in 1980, unifying a whole array of regional movements made up of people frustrated by mainstream politics. It brought together feminists, environmental, peace and human rights activists. Many felt that those in power were ignoring environmental issues, as well as the dangers of nuclear power.
Image: picture-alliance/akg-images/H. Langenheim
Attracting high-profile leftists
The influential German artist Joseph Beuys (left) was a founding member of the new party. And its alternative agenda and informal style quickly attracted leftist veterans from the 1968 European protest movement, including eco-feminist activist Petra Kelly (right), who coined the phrase that the Greens were the "anti-party party."
Image: ullstein bild/dpa
Party ambiance at party meetings
From the start the Green party conferences were marked by heated debate and extreme views. Discussions went on for many hours and sometimes a joyous party atmosphere prevailed.
Image: Imago Images/F. Stark
Greens enter the Bundestag
In 1983 the Greens entered the German parliament, the Bundestag, having won 5.6% in the national vote. Its members flaunted their anti-establishment background and were eyed by their fellow parliamentarians with a certain amount of skepticism.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
Green Party icon Joschka Fischer
Joschka Fischer became the first Green party regional government minister in 1985 when he famously took the oath of office wearing white sports sneakers. He later became German foreign minister in an SPD-led coalition government. And was vilified by party members for abandoning pacifism in support of German intervention in Kosovo in 1999.
Image: picture alliance/Sven Simon
Unification in a united Germany
With German reunification, the West German Greens merged with the East German protest movement "Bündnis 90" in 1993. But the party never garnered much support in the former East Germany (GDR).
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Pro-Europe
Today's Green voters are generally well-educated, high-earning urbanites with a strong belief in the benefits of multicultural society and gender equality. And no other party fields more candidates with an immigrant background. The party focuses not only on environmental issues and the climate crisis but a much broader spectrum of topics including education, social justice, and consumer policies.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/H. Schmidt
Turning conservative
Environmental topics are no longer the exclusive prerogative of the Greens, whose members have morphed from hippies to urban professionals. Winfried Kretschmann personifies this change: The conservative first-generation Green politician became the party's first politician to serve as a state premier. He teamed up with the Christian Democrats and has been reelected twice to lead Baden-Württemberg.
Image: Oliver Zimmermann/foto2press/picture alliance
Robert Habeck moves the party to the center
In 2021, Robert Habeck stepped aside to allow Annalena Baerbock to be the party's top candidate in the general election campaign. Three years later, the roles are reversed. Both symbolize the new pragmatism and confidence of the Greens and are not interested in the trench warfare between fundamentalists and pragmatists that marked the Green party debates of the early years.
The bill to extend the life of Germany's nuclear power plants, signed off by the Cabinet this week, will be put to the federal parliament, the Bundestag in early November, and the Green Party lawmakers are expected to vote in favor.
But they are already facing their next challenge to their principles: When it comes to arms exports, particularly to Saudi Arabia, despite human rights concerns.
So is compromising worth the toll it takes on a party's ideals?
Economy and Energy Minister Habeck thinks so. "It's worth being a part of the government," he told delegates at last week's annual Green Party conference. In recent months, the Greens have had to make difficult decisions at an "insane speed," Habeck said. And they have proven they "justifiably" bear the responsibility of being in government.
Edited by: Rina Goldenberg
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