Why Germany’s conservative and environmentalist movements fail to form an obvious political alliance

Environmental protection and conservativism are two defining traits of German society but a corresponding political coalition of the Green Party and the CDU seems as distant as always days before this week’s parliamentary election, Fabian Federl writes on Zeit Online. One reason might be that an understanding has gained a foothold in which “consistent ecology” always will be “a zero sum game” that produces economic losers in return for ecologic winners and which repels powerful forces in the conservative camp that are primarily occupied with conserving material privileges, Federl argues. Another reason, he says, is the Greens’ “arbitrariness”, as they are part of coalitions at the federal state level with virtually every other party currently present in the German parliament. If a party “fancies expropriation [of house owners] as a political measure” when in a coalition with the Left Party but “agrees on abolishing a cap on rent level rises” in another coalition with the CDU and economic liberal FDP, “it’s little wonder that they eventually become inauthentic,” Federl says.

Read the article in German here.

For more information on Germany’s coalition options, see the CLEW factsheets Colour codes: How energy & climate policy differs in German options and a chart on German parties’ energy & climate positions.