Misplaced Pages

#601398

134-467: Gerabronn is the home town of the two leading German politicians of the Green Party : Joschka Fischer and Rezzo Schlauch . Gerabronn developed from a village, which was supposedly founded in the 10th century. Originally named Gerhiltebrunnen ( well of Gerhilt), it was also called Gerolzbrunn, Geroldbrunn, Gerltbrunn or Gerhartsbrunn, until in the 17th century the current name became common. The village

268-532: A bourgeois left-wing party and the first liberal Party in the Western occupation zones. The German Democratic Party was revived in some states of the Western occupation zones (in the Southwestern states of Württemberg-Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern under the name of Democratic People's Party ). Many former members of DDP and DVP however agreed to finally overcome the traditional split of German liberalism into

402-473: A CDU-FDP centre-right governing coalition in the Bundestag with a 53% majority of seats. On election night, party leader Westerwelle said his party would work to ensure that civil liberties were respected and that Germany got an "equitable tax system and better education opportunities". The party also made gains in the two state elections held at the same time, acquiring sufficient seats for a CDU-FDP coalition in

536-599: A European-oriented liberals, although it came from the national liberal camp, but with Willi Weyer and Hans-Dietrich Genscher led the new centre of the party. This center strove to make the FDP coalition support both major parties. Here, the Liberals approached to by their reorientation in East Germany and politics especially of the SPD. On 21 October 1969 began the period after the election of

670-682: A Social-Liberal coalition with the SPD and the German Chancellor Willy Brandt . Walter Scheel was he who initiated the foreign policy reversal. Despite a very small majority he and Willy Brandt sat by the controversial New Ostpolitik. This policy was within the FDP quite controversial, especially since after the entry into the Federal Government defeats in state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Saarland on 14 June 1970 followed. In Hanover and Saarbrücken,

804-536: A coalition between the FDP and CDU/CSU was impossible primarily because of the weak results of the FDP. The CDU/CSU parties had achieved the third-worst performance in German postwar history with only 35.2 percent of the votes. Therefore, the FDP was unable to form a coalition with its preferred partners, the CDU/CSU parties. As a result, the party was considered as a potential member of two other political coalitions , following

938-575: A common Bundestag group with the hard-right German Party (DP) . In September of the same year the FDP chairman Theodor Heuss was elected the first President of the Federal Republic of Germany . In his 1954 re-election , he received the best election result to date of a President with 871 of 1018 votes (85.6 percent) of the Federal Assembly . Adenauer was also elected on the proposal of the new German President with an extremely narrow majority as

1072-765: A few months, the German revolutions of 1848–1849 . The FDP was founded on 11 December 1948 through the merger of nine regional liberal parties formed in 1945 from the remnants of the pre-1933 German People's Party (DVP) and the German Democratic Party (DDP), which had been active in the Weimar Republic . In the first elections to the Bundestag on 14 August 1949 , the FDP won a vote share of 11.9 percent (with 12 direct mandates, particularly in Baden-Württemberg and Hesse), and thus obtained 52 of 402 seats. It formed

1206-509: A gap in the political centre , which was left by the declining popularity of the CDU/CSU and SPD. Free Democratic Party (Germany) The Free Democratic Party (German: Freie Demokratische Partei , FDP , German pronunciation: [ɛfdeːˈpeː] ) is a liberal political party in Germany. The FDP was founded in 1948 by members of former liberal political parties which existed in Germany before World War II, namely

1340-535: A leading figure in the party's Brandenburg branch since 2009. Their election was considered a break with tradition, as they were both members of the moderate wing. The Greens saw a major surge in support during the Bavarian and Hessian state elections in October 2018, becoming the second largest party in both. They subsequently rose to second place behind the CDU/CSU in national polling, averaging between 17% and 20% over

1474-408: A member referendum on this question in the spring of 2003 which changed the party statute. Now members of parliament may be elected for two of the six seats of the party executive, as long as they are not ministers or caucus leaders. 57% of all party members voted in the member referendum, with 67% voting in favor of the change. The referendum was only the second in the history of Alliance 90/The Greens,

SECTION 10

#1732852753602

1608-487: A national opinion poll, and the first time in the history of the Federal Republic that any party other than the CDU/CSU or SPD had placed first in a national poll. This trend continued as polls from May to July showed the CDU/CSU and Greens trading first place, after which point the CDU/CSU pulled ahead once more. The Greens continued to poll in the low 20% range into early 2020. The Greens recorded best-ever results in

1742-622: A national-liberal and a left-liberal branch, aiming for the creation of a united liberal party. In October 1945 a liberal coalition party was founded in the state of Bremen under the name of Bremen Democratic People's Party. In January 1946, liberal state parties of the British occupation zone merged into the Free Democratic Party of the British Zone (FDP). A similar state party in Hesse , called

1876-429: A new runway ( Startbahn West ) at Frankfurt Airport . Those who left the party at the time might have felt similarly about some of these issues, but did not identify with the forms of protest that Green party members took part in. After some success at state-level elections, the party won 27 seats with 5.7% of the vote in the Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament, in the 1983 federal election . Among

2010-529: A party conference in January 2022, Ricarda Lang and Omid Nouripour were elected to succeed them. At the time of her election, Lang was 28 years old, speaker for women's issues, and a former leader of the Green Youth . 46-year-old Nouripour was foreign affairs spokesman and a member of the Bundestag since 2006. Of the new leaders, Lang is considered a representative of the party's left-wing, while Nouripour represents

2144-558: A plurality of seats is sufficient to elect a minister-president . So a red-green government in a state where it was defeated under Peer Steinbrück in 2005 came into office again on 14 June 2010 with the election of Hannelore Kraft as minister-president ( Cabinet Kraft I ). The Greens founded the first international chapter of a German political party in the U.S. on 13 April 2008 at the Goethe-Institut in Washington D.C. Its main goal

2278-463: A powerful force in Germany's political system. By 2016, the Greens had joined 11 out of 16 state governments in a variety of coalitions. Over the years, they have built up an informal structure called G-coordination to organize interests between the federal party office, the parliamentary group in the Bundestag, and the Greens governing on the state level. The Greens remained the smallest of six parties in

2412-517: A secular party that refused the religious schools and accused the opposition parties of clericalization. The FDP said they were known also as a consistent representative of the market economy, while the CDU was then dominated nominally from the Ahlen Programme, which allowed a Third Way between capitalism and socialism . Ludwig Erhard , the "father" of the social market economy , had his followers in

2546-519: A single Chancellor candidate. Co-leader Annalena Baerbock was announced as Chancellor candidate on 19 April and formally confirmed on 12 June with 98.5% approval. The Greens surged in opinion polls in late April and May, briefly surpassing the CDU as the most popular party in the country, but their numbers slipped back after Baerbock was caught up in several controversies. Her personal popularity also fell below that of both Armin Laschet and Olaf Scholz ,

2680-527: A time JuLis and the Young Democrats operated side by side, until the JuLis became the sole official youth wing of the FDP in 1983. The Young Democrats split from the FDP and were left as a party-independent youth organization. At the time of reunification, the FDP's objective was a special economic zone in the former East Germany, but could not prevail against the CDU/CSU, as this would prevent any loss of votes in

2814-449: A vote of confidence, tying it to his strategy on the war. Four Green MPs and one Social Democrat voted against the government, but Schröder was still able to command a majority. On the other hand, the Greens achieved a major success as a governing party through the 2000 decision to phase out the use of nuclear energy. Minister of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety Jürgen Trittin reached an agreement with energy companies on

SECTION 20

#1732852753602

2948-490: A week later, the FDP not only crossed the electoral threshold, but also increased its share of the votes to 2 percentage points higher than in the previous state election. This was attributed to the local leadership of Christian Lindner . The FDP last won a directly elected seat in 1990, in Halle —the only time it has won a directly elected seat since 1957. The party's inability to win directly elected seats came back to haunt it at

3082-719: Is "to provide a platform for politically active and green-oriented German citizens, in and beyond Washington D.C., to discuss and actively participate in German Green politics. [...] to foster professional and personal exchange, channeling the outcomes towards the political discourse in Germany." In March 2011 (two weeks after the Fukushima nuclear disaster had begun), the Greens made large gains in Rhineland-Palatinate and in Baden-Württemberg . In Baden-Württemberg they became

3216-743: Is a founding member of the European Green Party and the Greens–European Free Alliance group in the European Parliament . It is currently the largest party in the G/EFA group, with 21 MEPs . In the 2019 European election , Alliance 90/The Greens was the second largest party in Germany, winning 20.5% of votes cast. The party had 126,451 members in December 2022, making it the fourth largest party in Germany by membership. The Green Party

3350-413: Is believed that this was partly due to tactical voting by CDU and Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU) alliance supporters who hoped for stronger market-oriented economic reforms than the CDU/CSU alliance called for. However, because the CDU did worse than predicted, the FDP and the CDU/CSU alliance were unable to form a coalition government. At other times, for example after the 2002 federal election,

3484-428: Is flexible and seeks to balance social, economic, and environmental interests. The party is strongly pro-European , advocating European federalism , and promotes wider international cooperation, including strengthening existing alliances. Starting from the leadership of Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck , commentators have observed the Greens taking a pragmatic, moderate approach to work with parties from across

3618-472: The 1965 federal elections the FDP gained 9.5 percent. The coalition with the CDU in 1966 broke on the subject of tax increases and it was followed by a grand coalition between the CDU and the SPD. The opposition also pioneered a course change: the former foreign policy and the attitude to the eastern territories were discussed. The opposition leader for the FDP in the Bundestag was Knut von Kühlmann-Stumm . The new chairman elected delegates in 1968 Walter Scheel,

3752-430: The 2013 election , in which it came up just short of the 5% threshold. With no directly elected seats, the FDP was shut out of the Bundestag for the first time since 1949. After the previous chairman Philipp Rösler then resigned, Christian Lindner took over the leadership of the party. In the 2014 European parliament elections , the FDP received 3.4% of the national vote (986,253 votes in total) and returned 3 MEPs . In

3886-514: The 2014 Brandenburg state election the party experienced a 5.8% down-swing and lost all their representatives in the Brandenburg state parliament. In the 2014 Saxony state election , the party experienced a 5.2% down-swing, again losing all of its seats. In the 2014 Thuringian state election a similar phenomenon was repeated with the party falling below the 5% threshold following a 5.1% drop in popular vote. The party managed to enter parliament in

4020-485: The 2015 Bremen state election with the party receiving 6.5% of the vote and gaining 6 seats. However, it failed to get into government as a coalition between the Social Democrats and the Greens was created. In the 2016 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election the party failed to get into parliament despite increasing its vote share by 0.3%. The party did manage to get into parliament in Baden-Württemberg , gaining 3% of

4154-615: The Brandenburg (10.8%) and Saxony (8.6%) state elections in September 2019, and subsequently joined coalition governments in both states. They suffered an unexpected decline in the Thuringian election in October, only narrowing retaining their seats with 5.2%. In the February 2020 Hamburg state election , the Greens became the second largest party, winning 24.2% of votes cast. In March 2021,

Gerabronn - Misplaced Pages Continue

4288-561: The East German Green Party after German reunification in 1990. Since January 2022, Ricarda Lang and Omid Nouripour have been co-leaders of the party. It currently holds 118 of the 736 seats in the Bundestag , having won 14.8% of votes cast in the 2021 federal election , and its parliamentary group is the third largest of six. Its parliamentary co-leaders are Britta Haßelmann and Katharina Dröge . The Greens have been part of

4422-792: The GDR new liberal parties emerged, like the FDP East Germany or the German Forum Party. They formed the Liberal Democratic Party, who had previously acted as a bloc party on the side of the SED and with Manfred Gerlach also the last Council of State of the GDR presented, the Alliance of Free Democrats (BFD). Within the FDP came in the following years to considerable internal discussions about dealing with

4556-508: The German Democratic Party and the German People's Party . For most of the second half of the 20th century, particularly from 1961 to 1982, the FDP held the balance of power in the Bundestag . It has been a junior coalition partner to both the CDU/CSU (1949–1956, 1961–1966, 1982–1998 and 2009–2013) and Social Democratic Party (SPD) (1969–1982, 2021–present). In the 2013 federal election ,

4690-552: The German Progress Party (DFP) was founded, being the first political party in the modern sense in Germany. From the establishment of the National Liberal Party in 1867 until the demise of the Weimar Republic in 1933, the liberal-democratic camp was divided into a " national-liberal " and a "left-liberal" line of tradition. After 1918 the national-liberal strain was represented by the German People's Party (DVP),

4824-490: The Saarland , and is a member of coalition governments in eleven states. Winfried Kretschmann , Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg , is the only Green head of government in Germany. The Landtag of Baden-Württemberg is also the only state legislature in which Alliance 90/The Greens is the largest party; it is the second largest party in the legislatures of Berlin , Hamburg , and Schleswig-Holstein . Alliance 90/The Greens

4958-459: The Spiegel affair , the FDP withdrew their ministers from the federal government. Although the coalition was renewed again under Adenauer in 1962, the FDP withdrew again on the condition in October 1963. This occurred even under the new Chancellor, Ludwig Erhard. This was for Erich Mende turn the occasion to go into the cabinet: he took the rather unimportant Federal Ministry for All-German Affairs. In

5092-551: The debt brake , the climate transition, and property expropriation in Berlin . They are focusing on environmentalist and socially progressive policies. Emphasis is placed on mitigating climate change , reducing carbon emissions , and fostering sustainability and environmentally-friendly practices. They support equality, social justice , and humanitarian responses to events such as the European migrant crisis . Their fiscal platform

5226-472: The postmaterialist left. The party's political position is generally described to be centre-left, but there are also journalistic sources describing the party as centrist . The West German Greens played a crucial role in the development of green politics in Europe, with their original program outlining "four principles: ecological, social, grassroots, and non-violent." Initially ideologically heterogenous,

5360-770: The student protests of 1968 . Officially founded as a German national party on 13 January 1980 in Karlsruhe , the party sought to give these movements political and parliamentary representation, as the pre-existing peoples parties  [ de ] were not organised in a way to address their stated issues. Its membership included organisers from former attempts to achieve institutional representation such as GLU  [ de ] and AUD  [ de ] . Opposition to pollution, use of nuclear power , NATO military action, and certain aspects of industrialised society were principal campaign issues. The party also championed sexual liberation and some of their members supported

5494-477: The "black-yellow" CDU-FDP coalition in North Rhine-Westphalia under Jürgen Rüttgers lost its majority. The Greens and the SPD came one seat short of a governing majority, but after multiple negotiations about coalitions of SPD and Greens with either the FDP or The Left, the SPD and Greens decided to form a minority government , which was possible because under the constitution of North Rhine-Westphalia

Gerabronn - Misplaced Pages Continue

5628-707: The 12 years of Hitler's rule, some former liberals collaborated with the Nazis (e.g. economy minister Hjalmar Schacht ), while others resisted actively against Nazism, with some Liberal leaning members and former members of the military joining up with Henning von Tresckow (e.g. the Solf Circle ). Soon after World War II, the Soviet Union pushed for the creation of licensed " anti-fascist " parties in its occupation zone in East Germany. In July 1945, former DDP politicians Wilhelm Külz , Eugen Schiffer and Waldemar Koch called for

5762-574: The Bundestag as a district representative for the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg – Prenzlauer Berg East constituency in Berlin, becoming the first Green to ever gain a first-past-the-post seat in Germany. The Greens benefited from increased inroads among traditionally left-wing demographics which had benefited from Green-initiated legislation in the 1998–2002 term, such as environmentalists ( Renewable Energies Act ) and LGBT groups ( Registered Partnership Law). Perhaps most important for determining

5896-723: The Bundestag in the 2017 federal election , winning 8.9% of votes. After the election, they entered into talks for a Jamaica coalition with the CDU and FDP. Discussions collapsed after the FDP withdrew in November. After the federal election and unsuccessful Jamaica negotiations, the party held elections for two new co-leaders; incumbents Özdemir and Peter did not stand for re-election. Robert Habeck and Annalena Baerbock were elected with 81% and 64% of votes, respectively. Habeck had served as deputy premier and environment minister in Schleswig-Holstein since 2012, while Baerbock had been

6030-604: The Chancellor candidates for the CDU and SPD, respectively. The party's fortunes did not reverse even after the July floods , which saw climate change return as the most important issue among voters. The situation worsened in August as the SPD surged into first place to the detriment of both the CDU and Greens. The Greens finished in third place in the 2021 federal election with 14.8% of votes. Though their best ever federal election result, it

6164-563: The European Parliament for The Greens of France . The November 2003 convention is also noteworthy because it was the first convention of a German political party ever to use an electronic voting system. The Greens gained a record 13 of Germany's 99 seats in these elections, mainly due to the perceived competence of Green ministers in the federal government and the unpopularity of the Social Democratic Party . In early 2005,

6298-476: The FDP achieved 12.8 percent nationwide, the best result until then, and the FDP entered a coalition with the CDU again. Although it was committed before the election to continuing to sit in any case in a government together with Adenauer, Chancellor Adenauer was again, however, to withdraw under the proviso, after two years. These events led to the FDP being nicknamed the Umfallerpartei ("pushover party"). In

6432-452: The FDP failed to win any directly elected seats in the Bundestag and came up short of the 5 percent threshold to qualify for list representation, being left without representation in the Bundestag for the first time in its history. In the 2017 federal election , the FDP regained its representation in the Bundestag, receiving 10.6% of the vote. After the 2021 federal election the FDP became part of governing Scholz cabinet in coalition with

6566-466: The FDP's nearly three decade reign in government. In its 2002 campaign the FDP made an exception to its party policy of siding with the CDU/CSU when it adopted equidistance to the CDU and SPD. From 1998 until 2009 the FDP remained in the opposition until it became part of a new centre-right coalition government. In the 2005 general election the party won 9.8 percent of the vote and 61 federal deputies, an unpredicted improvement from prior opinion polls. It

6700-485: The FDP's position as the largest opposition party in the Bundestag. In the 2009 European election , the FDP received 11% of the national vote (2,888,084 votes in total) and returned 12 MEPs . In the September 2009 federal elections , the FDP increased its share of the vote by 4.8 percentage points to 14.6%, an all-time record. This percentage was enough to offset a decline in the CDU/CSU's vote compared to 2005, to create

6834-471: The Freiburg Thesis, which were as Rowohlt Paperback sold more than 100,000 times, on a theoretical basis, the FDP is committed to " social liberalism " and social reforms . Walter Scheel was first foreign minister and vice chancellor, 1974, he was then second-liberal President and paving the way for inner-party the previous interior minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher free. From 1969 to 1974 the FDP supported

SECTION 50

#1732852753602

6968-439: The Greens backed Chancellor Angela Merkel on most bailout votes in the German parliament during her second term, saying their pro-European stances overrode party politics. Shortly before the elections, the party plummeted to a four-year low in the polls, undermining efforts by Peer Steinbrück 's Social Democrats to unseat Merkel. While being in opposition on the federal level since 2005, the Greens have established themselves as

7102-417: The Greens improved their performance in Baden-Württemberg , where they remained the strongest party with 32.6% of votes, and Rhineland-Palatinate , where they moved into third place with 9.3%. Due to their sustained position as the second most popular party in national polling ahead of the September 2021 federal election , the Greens chose to forgo the traditional dual lead-candidacy in favour of selecting

7236-571: The Greens in the West did not pass the 5% limit required to win seats in the Bundestag. It was only due to a temporary modification of German election law, applying the five-percent "hurdle" separately in East and West Germany, that the Greens acquired any parliamentary seats at all. This happened because in the new states of Germany , the Greens, in a joint effort with Alliance 90 , a heterogeneous grouping of civil rights activists, were able to gain more than 5% of

7370-461: The Greens included a faction involved in pedophile activism , the SchwuP short for Arbeitsgemeinschaft "Schwule, Päderasten und Transsexuelle" (approx. working group "Gays, Pederasts and Transsexuals" ). This faction campaigned for repealing § 176 of the German penal code, dealing with child sexual abuse . This group was controversial within the party itself, and was seen as partly responsible for

7504-406: The Greens retained 47 seats and joined the federal government for the first time in ' Red-Green ' coalition government with the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Joschka Fischer became Vice-Chancellor of Germany and foreign minister in the new government, which had two other Green ministers ( Andrea Fischer , later Renate Künast , and Jürgen Trittin ). Almost immediately the party

7638-646: The Greens were the target of the German Visa Affair 2005 , instigated in the media by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). At the end of April 2005, they celebrated the decommissioning of the Obrigheim nuclear power station . They also continue to support a bill for an Anti-Discrimination Law ( Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz  [ de ] ) in the Bundestag . In May 2005, the only remaining state-level red-green coalition government lost

7772-672: The LDP and forcing it to join the SED-dominated National Front , making it a dependent " bloc party ". The Democratic Party of Germany (DPD) was established in Rothenburg ob der Tauber on 17 March 1947 as a pan-German party of liberals from all four occupation zones. Its leaders were Theodor Heuss (representing the DVP of Württemberg-Baden in the American zone) and Wilhelm Külz (representing

7906-529: The LDP of the Soviet zone). However, the project failed in January 1948 as a result of disputes over Külz's pro-Soviet direction. The Free Democratic Party was established on 11–12 December 1948 in Heppenheim , in Hesse , as an association of all 13 liberal state parties in the three Western zones of occupation. The proposed name, Liberal Democratic Party, was rejected by the delegates, who voted 64 to 25 in favour of

8040-424: The Liberal Democratic Party, was licensed by the U.S. military government in January 1946. In the state of Bavaria, a Free Democratic Party was founded in May 1946. In the first post-war state elections in 1946, liberal parties performed well in Württemberg-Baden (16.8%), Bremen (18.3%), Hamburg (18.2%) and Greater Berlin (still undivided; 9.3%). The LDP was especially strong in the October 1946 state elections of

8174-415: The Naumann Circle, the FDP federal board installed a commission of inquiry, chaired by Thomas Dehler, which particularly sharply criticized the situation in the North Rhine-Westphalian FDP. In the following years, the right wing lost power, and the extreme right increasingly sought areas of activity outside the FDP. In the 1953 federal election , the FDP received 9.5 percent of the party votes, 10.8 percent of

SECTION 60

#1732852753602

8308-404: The Nazi forces in democracy. The FDP members were seen as part of the " extremist " block along with the German Party in West Germany by the US intelligence officials. Similarly, a de-Nazification Act could only be passed at the end of 1950 in the Bundestag because the opposition SPD supported the motion along with the governing CDU/CSU; the governing FDP voted along with the hard-right DP and

8442-407: The Nazis, was known for his rhetorical focus. Generally the various regional associations were independent. After the FDP had left in early 1956, the coalition with the CDU in North Rhine-Westphalia and made with SPD and centre a new state government, were a total of 16 members of parliament, including the four federal ministers from the FDP and founded the short-lived Free People's Party, which then up

8576-404: The SPD Chancellor Willy Brandt, who was succeeded by Helmut Schmidt . Already by the end of the 70s there did not seem to be enough similarities between the FDP and the SPD to form a new coalition, but the CDU/CSU chancellor candidate of Franz Josef Strauss in 1980 pushed the parties to run together again. The FDP's policies, however, began to drift apart from the SPD's, especially when it came to

8710-427: The Saarland Greens rejected the option of a left-wing 'red-red-green' coalition with the SPD and The Left ( Die Linke ) in order to form a centre-right state government with the CDU and Free Democratic Party (FDP), a historical first time that a Jamaica coalition has formed in German politics. In June 2010, in the first state election following the victory of the CDU/CSU and FDP in the 2009 federal election ,

8844-516: The Social Democratic Party and the Greens . Since the 1980s, the party, consistently with its ordoliberal tradition, has pushed economic liberalism and has aligned itself closely to the promotion of free markets and privatization , and is aligned to the centre or centre-right of the political spectrum. The FDP is a member of the Liberal International , the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and Renew Europe . The history of liberal parties in Germany dates back to 1861, when

8978-440: The Soviet zone—the last free parliamentary election in East Germany—obtaining an average of 24.6% (highest in Saxony-Anhalt, 29.9%, and Thuringia, 28.5%), thwarting an absolute majority of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) that was favoured by the Soviet occupation power. This disappointment to the communists however led to a change of electoral laws in the Soviet zone, cutting the autonomy of non-socialist parties including

9112-408: The Third Reich were courted with nationalist values. The FDP voted in parliament at the end of 1950 against the CDU- and SPD-introduced de-nazification process. At their party conference in Munich in 1951 they demanded the release of all "so-called war criminals " and welcomed the establishment of the "Association of German soldiers" of former Wehrmacht and SS members to advance the integration of

9246-419: The Union won an absolute majority. The FDP also called for a nuclear-free zone in Central Europe. Even before the election Dehler was assigned as party chairman. At the federal party in Berlin at the end January 1957 relieved him Reinhold Maier. Dehler's role as Group Chairman took over after the election of the national set very Erich Mende. Mende was also chairman of the party. In the 1961 federal election ,

9380-537: The abolition of age of consent laws . The formation of a party was purportedly first discussed by movement leaders in 1978. Important figures in the first years were – among others – Petra Kelly , Joschka Fischer , Gert Bastian , Lukas Beckmann  [ de ] , Rudolf Bahro , Joseph Beuys , Antje Vollmer , Herbert Gruhl  [ de ] , August Haußleiter , Luise Rinser , Dirk Schneider  [ de ] , Christian Ströbele , Jutta Ditfurth , Baldur Springmann and Werner Vogel . In

9514-444: The cooperation of members who were willing to align the party with the agenda of the German Democratic Republic . The party ranks included several politicians who were later discovered to have been Stasi agents, including Bundestag representative Dirk Schneider, European Parliament representative Brigitte Heinrich , and Red Army Faction defense lawyer Klaus Croissant . Greens politician and Bundestag representative Gert Bastian

9648-482: The county of Crailsheim, which in 1972 was included into the county of Schwäbisch Hall. In 1972–75, the previously independent municipalities of Amlishagen, Dünsbach and Michelbach/Heide, as well as Ober- and Unterweiler from the municipality of Wittenweiler, were included into the town. Gerabronn lies in 422 up to 460 meters height on a hill on the Hohenlohe Plain . Neighbouring municipalities The town borders in

9782-522: The crises of the preceding electoral period, in the 2002 federal election , the Greens increased their total to 55 seats (in a smaller parliament) and 8.6%. This was partly due to the perception that the internal debate over the war in Afghanistan had been more honest and open than in other parties, and one of the MPs who had voted against the Afghanistan deployment, Hans-Christian Ströbele , was directly elected to

9916-638: The debt crisis. Westerwelle stepped down as party leader following the 2011 state elections, in which the party was wiped out in Saxony-Anhalt and Rhineland-Palatinate and lost half its seats in Baden-Württemberg . Westerwelle was replaced in May 2011 by Philipp Rösler . The change in leadership failed to revive the FDP's fortunes, however, and in the next series of state elections, the party lost all its seats in Bremen , Mecklenburg-Vorpommern , and Berlin . In Berlin,

10050-629: The design being made official in 1953. German Green Party Alliance 90/The Greens (German: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen , pronounced [ˈbʏntnɪs ˈnɔʏntsɪç diː ˈɡʁyːnən] ), often simply referred to as Greens ( Grüne , pronounced [ˈɡʁyːnə] ), is a green political party in Germany . It was formed in 1993 by the merger of the Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (formed in East Germany in 1990). The Greens had itself merged with

10184-455: The early years of the Federal Republic in the CDU/CSU rather than in the FDP. The FDP won Hesse's 1950 state election with 31.8 percent, the best result in its history, through appealing to East Germans displaced by the war by including them on their ticket. Up to the 1950s, several of the FDP's regional organizations were to the right of the CDU/CSU, which initially had ideas of some sort of Christian socialism, and even former office-holders of

10318-530: The economy. Within the SPD, there was strong grassroots opposition to Chancellor Helmut Schmidt's policies on the NATO Double-Track Decision . However, within the FDP, the conflicts and contrasts were always greater. In the fall of 1982, the FDP reneged on its coalition agreement with the SPD and instead threw its support behind the CDU/CSU. On 1 October, the FDP and CDU/CSU were able to oust Schmidt and replace him with CDU party chairman Helmut Kohl as

10452-408: The election. One possibility was a partnership between the FDP, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Alliance 90/The Greens , known as a " traffic light coalition ", named after the colors of the three parties. This coalition was ruled out, because the FDP considered the Social Democrats and the Greens insufficiently committed to market-oriented economic reform . The other possibility

10586-474: The end of 2010, the party's support had dropped to as low as 5%. The FDP retained their seats in the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia , which was held six months after the federal election, but out of the seven state elections that have been held since 2009, the FDP have lost all their seats in five of them due to failing to cross the 5% threshold. Support for the party further eroded amid infighting and an internal rebellion over euro-area bailouts during

10720-660: The environment. One internal issue in 2002 was the failed attempt to settle a long-standing discussion about the question of whether members of parliament should be allowed to become members of the party executive. Two party conventions declined to change the party statute. The necessary majority of two-thirds was missed by a small margin. As a result, former party chairpersons Fritz Kuhn and Claudia Roth (who had been elected to parliament that year) were no longer able to continue in their executive function and were replaced by former party secretary general Reinhard Bütikofer and former Bundestag member Angelika Beer . The party then held

10854-570: The establishment of a pan-German liberal party. Their Liberal-Democratic Party (LDP) was soon licensed by the Soviet Military Administration in Germany , under the condition that the new party joined the pro-Soviet " Democratic Bloc ". In September 1945, citizens in Hamburg —including the anti-Nazi resistance circle "Association Free Hamburg"—established the Party of Free Democrats (PFD) as

10988-624: The federal election in 2005, the Greens were not part of any government at the state or federal level. In June 2007, the Greens in Bremen entered into a coalition with the Social Democratic Party (SPD) following the 2007 Bremen state election . In April 2008, following the 2008 Hamburg state election , the Green-Alternative List (GAL) in Hamburg entered into a coalition with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU),

11122-504: The federal governing coalition in 2021. Analysts pointed to its participation in the federal government requiring it to take stances that are contrary to its traditional clean-energy and pacifist ideals, as well as a stark collapse in support with young voters. Lang and Nouripour remain in office until successors are elected in November. The party's main ideological trends are green politics and social liberalism . The party has also been described as left-libertarian and influenced by

11256-521: The federal government twice: first as a junior partner to the Social Democrats (SPD) from 1998 to 2005, and then with the SPD and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) in the traffic light coalition since the 2021 German federal election . In the incumbent Scholz cabinet , the Greens have five ministers, including Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock . The party holds seats in all of Germany's state legislatures, except

11390-497: The first such  [ de ] state-level coalition in Germany. Although the GAL had to agree to the deepening of the Elbe River, the construction of a new coal-fired power station and two road projects they had opposed, they also received some significant concessions from the CDU. These included reforming state schools by increasing the number of primary school educational stages ,

11524-504: The first Chancellor. The FDP participated with the CDU/CSU and the DP in Adenauer's coalition cabinet; they had three ministers: Franz Blücher (Vice-Chancellor), Thomas Dehler (justice), and Eberhard Wildermuth (housing). On the most important economic, social and German national issues, the FDP agreed with their coalition partners, the CDU/CSU. However, the FDP offered to middle-class voters

11658-448: The first having been held about the merger of the Greens and Alliance 90. In 2004, after Angelika Beer was elected to the European Parliament , Claudia Roth was elected to replace her as party chair. The only party convention in 2003 was planned for November 2003, but about 20% of the local organisations forced the federal party to hold a special party convention in Cottbus early to discuss

11792-548: The five new federal states in the general election in 1990. In all federal election campaigns since the 1980s, the party sided with the CDU and CSU, the main conservative parties in Germany. Following German reunification in 1990, the FDP merged with the Association of Free Democrats , a grouping of liberals from East Germany and the Liberal Democratic Party of Germany . During the political upheavals of 1989/1990 in

11926-571: The former bloc party. Even before the reunification of Germany united on a joint congress in Hanover, the West German FDP united with the other parties to form the first all-German party. Both party factions brought the FDP a great, albeit short-lived, increase in membership. In the first all-German Bundestag elections, the CDU/CSU/FDP centre-right coalition was confirmed, the FDP received 11.0 percent of

12060-585: The foundational congress of 1980 , the ideological tenets of the party were consolidated, proclaiming the famous Four Pillars of the Green Party: In 1982, the conservative factions of the Greens broke away to form the Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP). Those who remained in the Green party were more strongly pacifist and against restrictions on immigration and reproductive rights , while supporting

12194-487: The gradual phasing out of the country's nineteen nuclear power plants and a cessation of civil usage of nuclear power by 2020. This was authorised through the Nuclear Exit Law . Based on an estimate of 32 years as the normal period of operation for a nuclear power plant, the agreement defines precisely how much energy a power plant is allowed to produce before being shut down. This law has since been overturned. Despite

12328-493: The important political issues at the time was the deployment of Pershing II IRBMs and nuclear-tipped cruise missiles by the U.S. and NATO on West German soil, generating strong opposition in the general population that found an outlet in mass demonstrations. The newly formed party was able to draw on this popular movement to recruit support. Partly due to the impact of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, and to growing awareness of

12462-698: The left-liberal one by the German Democratic Party (DDP, which merged into the German State Party in 1930). Both parties played an important role in government during the Weimar Republic era, but successively lost votes during the rise of the Nazi Party beginning in the late-1920s. After the Nazi seizure of power , both liberal parties agreed to the Enabling Act of 1933 and subsequently dissolved themselves. During

12596-413: The legalisation of cannabis use, placing a higher priority on working for LGBT rights , and tending to advocate what they described as "anti-authoritarian" concepts of education and child-rearing. They also tended to identify more closely with a culture of protest and civil disobedience , frequently clashing with police at demonstrations against nuclear weapons , nuclear energy , and the construction of

12730-420: The most centrist of Germany's left-wing parties. However, Baerbock campaigned from the left of the SPD, stating that the party's economic program is geared towards the "common good" while the SPD's no longer is. The party has a more pragmatic approach to workers' rights than the SPD. On the other hand, the party clearly holds positions to the left of the SPD on issues such as fiscal discipline, particularly on

12864-614: The name Free Democratic Party (FDP). The party's first chairman was Theodor Heuss, a member of the Democratic People's Party in Württemberg-Baden; his deputy was Franz Blücher of the FDP in the British Zone. The place for the party's foundation was chosen deliberately: the " Heppenheim Assembly " was held at the Hotel Halber Mond on 10 October 1847, a meeting of moderate liberals who were preparing for what would be, within

12998-464: The nation's nuclear power stations would not happen as quickly as they wished, and numerous pro-business SPD members of the federal cabinet opposed the environmentalist agenda of the Greens, calling for tacit compromises. In 2001, the party experienced a further crisis as some Green Members of Parliament refused to back the government's plan of sending military personnel to help with the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan . Chancellor Gerhard Schröder called

13132-480: The new Chancellor. The coalition change resulted in severe internal conflicts, and the FDP then lost about 20 percent of its 86,500 members, as reflected in the general election in 1983 by a drop from 10.6 percent to 7.0 percent. The members went mostly to the SPD, the Greens and newly formed splinter parties, such as the left-liberal party Liberal Democrats (LD). The exiting members included the former FDP General Secretary and later EU Commissioner Günter Verheugen . At

13266-439: The next six months. In the 2019 European Parliament election , the Greens achieved their best ever result in a national election, placing second with 20.5% of the vote and winning 21 seats. National polling released after the election showed a major boost for the party. The first poll after the election, conducted by Forsa, showed the Greens in first place on 27%. This was the first time the Greens had ever been in first place in

13400-417: The north on Blaufelden , in the east on Rot am See , in the south on the towns of Kirchberg an der Jagst and Ilshofen and in the west on Langenburg . City Districts From 1972 until 1975, the municipalities of Amlishagen , Dünsbach and Michelbach/Heide as well as Oberweiler und Unterweiler from the municipality of Wittenweiler were annexed following the municipal reform. The coat of arms shows

13534-461: The northernmost state, Schleswig-Holstein , and gaining enough votes in left-leaning Brandenburg to clear the 5% hurdle to enter that state's parliament. However, after reaching its best ever election result in 2009, the FDP's support collapsed. The party's policy pledges were put on hold by Merkel as the Great Recession unfolded and with the onset of the European debt crisis in 2010. By

13668-400: The openly neo-Nazi German Reich Party (DRP) against the law against Nazis. The 1953 Naumann Circle , named after Werner Naumann , consisted of a group of former Nazis who tried to infiltrate the party, which had many right-wing and nationalist members in Hesse , North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony . After the British occupation authorities had arrested seven prominent members of

13802-455: The party convention in November 1982, the Schleswig-Holstein state chairman Uwe Ronneburger challenged Hans-Dietrich Genscher as party chairman. Ronneburger received 186 of the votes—about 40 percent—and was just narrowly defeated by Genscher. in 1980, FDP members who did not agree with the politics of the FDP youth organization Young Democrats founded the Young Liberals (JuLis). For

13936-585: The party left the parliament. After the federal party congress in Bonn, just a week later supported the policy of the party leadership and Scheel had confirmed in office, founded by Siegfried party rights Zoglmann 11 July 1970 a "non-partisan" organization called the National-Liberal action on the Hohensyburgstraße—to fall with the goal of ending the social-liberal course of the party and Scheel. However, this

14070-406: The party lost nearly 75% of the support they had had in the previous election. In March 2012, the FDP lost all their state-level representation in the 2012 Saarland state election . However, this was offset by the Schleswig-Holstein state elections, when they achieved 8% of the vote, which was a severe loss of seats but still over the 5% threshold. In the snap elections in North Rhine-Westphalia

14204-536: The party position regarding Agenda 2010 , a major reform of the German welfare programmes planned by Chancellor Schröder. The November 2003 party convention was held in Dresden and decided the election platform for the 2004 European Parliament elections. The German Green list for these elections was headed by Rebecca Harms (then leader of the Green party in Lower Saxony) and Daniel Cohn-Bendit , previously Member of

14338-479: The party took up a position on the radical left in its early years, which were dominated by conflicts between the more left-wing "Fundi" (fundamentalist) and more moderate "Realo" (realist) factions. These conflicts became less significant as the party moved toward the political mainstream in the 1990s. During the 2021 federal election, the WZB Berlin Social Science Center classified the party as

14472-414: The political spectrum. Baerbock described their stances and style as a form of "radical realism" attempting to reconcile principles with practical politics. At the same time, the party has denounced populism and division, and placed rhetorical emphasis on optimism and cross-party cooperation. Accompanied by record high popularity and election results, this led some to suggest that the Greens were filling

14606-446: The poor election result of 1985. This controversy re-surfaced in 2013 and chairwoman Claudia Roth stated she welcomed an independent scientific investigation on the extent of influence pedophile activists had on the party in the mid-1980s. In November 2014, the political scientist Franz Walter presented the final report about his research on a press conference. In the 1990 federal elections , taking place post- reunified Germany ,

14740-504: The primary vote (with 14 direct mandates, particularly in Hamburg , Lower Saxony, Hesse, Württemberg and Bavaria ) and 48 of 487 seats. In the second term of the Bundestag, the South German Liberal Democrats gained influence in the party. Thomas Dehler, a representative of a more social-liberal course took over as party and parliamentary leader. The former Minister of Justice Dehler, who in 1933 suffered persecution by

14874-523: The quartered black-and-white shield of the Hohenzollern family, who were the Viscounts of Nürnberg when the coat of arms was granted to the town in 1545. To distinguish the coats of arms of the family and the town two vaulting horses were added, as horse breeding was popular in the town historically. Originally the horses were displayed on the black quarters, but in 1902 they were placed on the silver quarters,

15008-433: The restoration of trams as public transportation in the city-state , and more pedestrian-friendly real estate development. On 29 November 2010, the coalition collapsed, resulting in an election that was won by SPD. Following the Saarland state election of August 2009, The Greens held the balance of power after a close election where no two-party coalitions could create a stable majority government . After negotiations,

15142-587: The right-wing. Lang and Nouripour announced their resignations as party leaders in September 2024 after heavy defeats in the Saxony , Thuringia and Brandenburg state elections that month. In all three states, governing coalitions involving the Greens were not returned, and the party was wiped out in the latter two states while only narrowly retaining representation in Saxony. The party had fallen out of five state governments (additionally Berlin and Hesse ) since entering

15276-408: The senior partner in a governing coalition for the first time. Winfried Kretschmann is now the first Green to serve as Minister-President of a German State ( Cabinet Kretschmann I and II ). Polling data from August 2011 indicated that one in five Germans supported the Greens. From 4 October 2011 to 4 September 2016 , the party was represented in all state parliaments. Like the Social Democrats,

15410-633: The success of both the Greens and the SPD was the increasing threat of war in Iraq, which was highly unpopular with the German public, and helped gather votes for the parties which had taken a stand against participation in this war. Despite losses for the SPD, the Red-Green coalition government retained a very slight majority in the Bundestag (4 seats) and was renewed, with Joschka Fischer as foreign minister, Renate Künast as minister for consumer protection, nutrition and agriculture, and Jürgen Trittin as minister for

15544-484: The threat of air pollution and acid rain to German forests ( Waldsterben ), the Greens increased their share of the vote to 8.3% in the 1987 federal election . Around this time, Joschka Fischer emerged as the unofficial leader of the party, which he remained until resigning all leadership posts following the 2005 federal election . The Greens were the target of attempts by the East German secret police to enlist

15678-531: The valid votes (79 seats) and won in Genschers city of birth Halle (Saale) the first direct mandate since 1957. During the 1990s, the FDP won between 6.2 and 11 percent of the vote in Bundestag elections. It last participated in the federal government by representing the junior partner in the government of Chancellor Helmut Kohl of the CDU. In 1998, the CDU/CSU-FDP coalition lost the federal election, which ended

15812-411: The vote and 7 seats. It also managed to enter government under a traffic light coalition . In 2016 Saxony-Anhalt state election the party narrowly missed the 5% threshold, receiving 4.9% of the vote and therefore receiving zero seats despite a 1% swing in their favour. The 2017 North Rhine-Westphalia state election was widely considered a test of the party's future as their chairman Christian Lindner

15946-416: The vote and a total of 12 seats. This represents a five-seat improvement over their previous results. In the 2016 Berlin state election the party gained 4.9% of the vote and 12 seats but still failed to get into government. A red-red-green coalition was instead formed relegating the FDP to the opposition. In the 2016 Rhineland-Palatinate state election , the party managed to enter parliament receiving 6.2% of

16080-412: The vote in the North Rhine-Westphalia state election , leaving only the federal government with participation of the Greens (apart from local governments). In the early 2005 federal election the party incurred very small losses and achieved 8.1% of the vote and 51 seats. However, due to larger losses of the SPD, the previous coalition no longer had a majority in the Bundestag. For almost two years after

16214-445: The vote. Some critics attribute this poor performance to the reluctance of the campaign to cater to the prevalent mood of nationalism , instead focusing on subjects such as global warming . A campaign poster at the time proudly stated, "Everyone is talking about Germany; we're talking about the weather!", paraphrasing a popular slogan of Deutsche Bundesbahn , the German national railway. The party also opposed imminent reunification that

16348-411: Was a CDU-FDP-Green coalition, known as a " Jamaica coalition " because of the colours of the three parties. This coalition wasn't concluded either, since the Greens ruled out participation in any coalition with the CDU/CSU. Instead, the CDU formed a Grand coalition with the SPD, and the FDP entered the opposition . FDP leader Guido Westerwelle became the unofficial leader of the opposition by virtue of

16482-469: Was also a founding member of Generals for Peace  [ de ] , a pacifist group created and funded by the Stasi, the revelation of which may have contributed to the murder-suicide in which he killed his partner and Greens founder Petra Kelly . A study commissioned by the Greens determined that 15 to 20 members intimately cooperated with the Stasi and another 450 to 500 had been informants. Until 1987,

16616-408: Was also leading the party in that state. The party experienced a 4% swing in its favour gaining 6 seats and entering into a coalition with the CDU with a bare majority. In the 2017 Saarland state election the party again failed to gain any seats despite a 1% swing in their favour. The party gained 3 seats and increased its vote share by 3.2% in the 2017 Schleswig-Holstein state election . This success

16750-418: Was called Grün-Alternative Liste Hamburg (GAL; green-alternative list) from its foundation in 1982 until 2012. In 1984, it became the official Hamburg branch of The Greens. The political party The Greens (German: Die Grünen ) sprung out of the wave of New Social Movements that were active in the 1970s, including environmentalist , anti-war , and anti-nuclear movements which can trace their origin to

16884-607: Was considered a bitter disappointment in light of their polling numbers during the previous three years. They entered coalition talks with the FDP and SPD, eventually joining a traffic light coalition under Chancellor Olaf Scholz which took office on 8 December 2021. The Greens have five ministers in the Scholz cabinet , including Robert Habeck as Vice-Chancellor and Annalena Baerbock as foreign minister. Since party statute mandates that party leaders may not hold government office, Baerbock and Habeck stepped down after entering cabinet. At

17018-520: Was first mentioned in a 1226 feud letter , when the area came under the control of the Bishop of Würzburg . Until the 19th century Gerabronn was only a village; thereafter it became a town ( Oberamtsstadt ) in 1811 it was responsible for the administration of the surrounding area. Industrialization and a connection to the railway further helped the growth of the town. In 1938 the Amt was dissolved and became part of

17152-456: Was founded as Alternative Liste , or precisely, Alternative Liste für Demokratie und Umweltschutz (AL; alternative list for democracy and environmental protection) in 1978 and became the official West Berlin branch of The Greens in 1980. In 1993, it renamed to Alliance 90/The Greens Berlin after the merger with East Berlin's Greens and Alliance 90. The Hamburg state branch of the Green Party

17286-457: Was in process, instead wanting to initiate debates on ecology and nuclear issues before reunification causing a drop in support in Western Germany. After the 1994 federal election ; however, the merged party returned to the Bundestag, and the Greens received 7.3% of the vote nationwide and 49 seats. In the 1998 federal election , despite a slight fall in their percentage of the vote (6.7%),

17420-705: Was initially founded in West Germany as Die Grünen (the Greens) in January 1980. It grew out of the anti-nuclear energy, environmental, peace, new left, and new social movements of the late 20th century. Grüne Liste Umweltschutz (green list for environmental protection) was the name used for some branches in Lower Saxony and other states in the Federal Republic of Germany. These groups were founded in 1977 and took part in several elections. Most of them merged with The Greens in 1980. The West Berlin state branch of The Greens

17554-428: Was involved to the end of the legislature instead of FDP in the Federal Government. The FDP first took it to the opposition. Only one of the smaller post-war parties, the FDP survived despite many problems. In 1957 federal elections they still reached 7.7 percent of the vote to 1990 and their last direct mandate with which they had held 41 of 497 seats in the Bundestag. However, they still remained in opposition because

17688-492: Was not done. Zoglmann supported in October 1970 a disapproval resolution of opposition to Treasury Secretary Alexander Möller, Erich Mende, Heinz Starke, and did the same. A little later all three declared their withdrawal from the FDP; Mende and Strong joined the CDU, Zoglmann later founded the German Union (Deutsche Union) , which remained a splinter party. The foreign policy and the socio-political changes were made in 1971 by

17822-418: Was often credited to their state chairman Wolfgang Kubicki . They also managed to re-enter the government under a Jamaica coalition . In the 2017 federal election the party scored 10.7% of votes and re-entered the Bundestag, winning 80 seats. After the election, a Jamaica coalition was considered between the CDU, Greens, and FDP. However, FDP chief Christian Lindner walked out of the coalition talks due to

17956-603: Was plunged into a crisis by the question of German participation in the NATO actions in Kosovo. Numerous anti-war party members resigned their party membership when the first post-war deployment of German troops in a military conflict abroad occurred under a Red-Green government, and the party began to experience a long string of defeats in local and state-level elections. Disappointment with the Green participation in government increased when anti-nuclear power activists realised that shutting down

#601398