The 120,000 members of Germany's Green Party will get to vote on any coalition deal to form a new government if it involves the party, which emerged as the third strongest force in last week's election, members decided at a conference in Berlin on Saturday. A party conference is to vote on the start of coalition negotiations, while all members are to get a final vote on the ultimate coalition agreement and on the government posts to be filled by the Greens. The process could be concluded within two weeks, the party's federal manager, Michael Kellner, said. This would be the first time in the party's history that its members get to vote on a federal coalition deal.
During the Saturday conference, 100 delegates also formally appointed a 10-member group spearheaded by party leaders Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck, to conduct future exploratory coalition talks. The Greens had already met with the pro-business Free Democrats, or FDP, on Friday, who came in fourth in Sunday’s elections, to explore their role as potential kingmakers in a three-way coalition.
Both parties are to conduct initial talks with Germany’s Social Democrats, or SPD, who emerged as the winner of the vote with 25.7%, on Sept. 26. The Greens will meet the Christian Democrat-led conservative bloc, or CDU/CSU, of outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday. The CDU/CSU alliance came in second with 24.1%, while the Greens garnered 14.8% and the FDP 11.5%. The SPD and the conservatives are seeking to head the new government and are banking on forming three-way coalitions with the Greens and the FDP. The two smaller parties saw significant gains compared to the last elections in 2017. "If we don't mess up completely, over the next four years we will not only help support this government, we will have a significant say in it," the Green's co-leader Robert Habeck said during the conference. "We derive from the election results a clear mandate to take responsibility for shaping the country and to form a progressive government," reads the federal executive board's guiding motion for the Green Party conference.
