Green Party co-leader Özdemir: climate protection a priority in coalition talks

The German Green Party’s co-leader, Cem Özdemir, has said that climate protection, European integration, and social justice are the topics his party will be most adamant on in a possible coalition with the conservative CDU/CSU alliance and the economic liberal FDP. In an interview with the Hamburger Abendblatt, Özdemir said that for the coalition talks to succeed, “everybody needs to feel like a winner”, meaning that each party has to make gains in policy areas that they deem particularly important. Özdemir said that for talks on a so-called ‘Jamaica’ coalition (CDU/CSU, FDP, and Greens), it was necessary for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU and its Bavarian sister party CSU to “resolve their internal differences” first. The Greens’ co-leader said that Germany had to phase out coal-fired power plants and focus on the production of emissions-free cars to maintain its strong position in the automotive sector, adding that the Greens were “ready to assume responsibility” in a government coalition, “but not at any price”.

Read the article in German here.

See the CLEW factsheets Climate & energy stumbling blocks for Jamaica-coalition talks and The long road to a new government coalition in Germany for background.