German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck plans to step back from any leadership role in the Greens after his party suffered losses in Sunday’s election.
“I will no longer claim or aspire to a leading role in the Green Party’s personnel line-up.’’
Habeck, who stood as the top Green candidate in the campaign, said at a news conference in Berlin on Monday morning.
The Greens slumped to 11.6per cent in the election, down from 14.7 per cent in the last national election in 2021.
“It’s not a good result, I wanted more and we wanted more,’’ Habeck said.
He is also very likely to lose his post in government, as conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz is almost certain to become the next chancellor.
He appeared likely to form a coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).
Habeck said that an enormous amount “shifted’’ during the election campaign.
He described it as shocking how the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and their extremist anti-immigrant rhetoric became part of the mainstream.
AfD leader Alice Weidel was able to talk about remigration, a term used among far-right extremists for driving immigrants out of the country, as if it were a completely normal term, Habeck said.
Migration legislation pushed by Merz during the campaign would “treat people as if they are natural disasters,’’ he said.
All of these are dangerous tendencies, Habeck said.
Habeck and other Greens noted that the party saw smaller losses than the other partners in the outgoing government.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD, who suffered their worst-ever showing, or the free-market liberal Free Democrats (FDP), who felt short of the 5 per cent threshold to claim any seats.
Nevertheless, Habeck had set himself the clear goal of becoming chancellor, with one of his election posters declaring.
“My resolution for 2025 becoming chancellor, stay human.’’
Instead, the party slid to fourth place and appeared destined for the opposition.
(dpa/NAN)
