Dear friends,
Dear Britta, Dear Katharina, congratulations on your re-election. You were kind enough to let me speak at the beginning of our regular parliamentary group meeting.
A few weeks ago, Paula jokingly said she had probably taken my seat. We are all creatures of habit. If the towel rule still applies, this seat will be Ottmar von Holtz’s from January onwards.
Ottmar will succeed me. I will be stepping down from my mandate in January.
Ottmar is familiar with the work in the parliamentary group. He was a member from 2017 to 2021. Some of you know him as the current spokesperson of the Federal Working Group on International Affairs and Peace.
Why am I stepping down in the middle of the legislative term?
For a political person, there is never a good time to step down.
There is always something where we feel needed, where we cannot sit still and watch. You yourselves have seen what has driven me in recent weeks—from Hamas’ terror and the war in Gaza to climate foreign policy strategy.
But we are not talking about the end of politics, just the end of my mandate.
I think 25 years in the Bundestag is a good reason.
It was clear even before the election that I wouldn’t run again. I made the decision to step down in the middle of the legislative period in the summer. The only ones I informed a few months ago were my chairpersons, Britta and Katharina.
I am grateful to both of you for how you handled the news, which wasn’t to your liking.
In the summer, I realized that on September 27th, I would have been a member of the Bundestag for 25 years.
Almost 40 years ago, I became a parliamentarian for the first time. It would have been exactly 40 if the CDU hadn’t blocked the Greens’ two-year rotation at that time. So, I didn’t become a state parliament member until 1985, by court ruling.
I leave with serenity and gratitude. I owe a lot to our party and this parliamentary group. In my political life, I was able to do many things that I hadn’t believed possible before.
In 1990, I became the Federal and European Affairs Minister of the first red-green state coalition, which lasted four years. For a time, due to the failure of the West Greens to pass the 5% threshold, I was the only West Green who could speak in the Bundestag—even against the 1993 asylum compromise. I was the Green Party Chair when we ended 16 years of Helmut Kohl’s rule in 1998, and I became its first Federal Environment Minister. Twice, I led the Greens as their top candidate in the Bundestag elections—once with Renate, once with Katrin. In 2009, we achieved the then-best result ever, and in 2013, I suffered a bitter defeat.
For all that, I say thank you.
But if you ask me what my favorite job was:
I most enjoyed being the parliamentary group leader.
When Britta and Katharina are sitting in a ministry or hiking through the Dolomites one day, you’ll agree with me. Nothing is better than chairing this spirited parliamentary group, which is so diverse yet capable of so much unity and cohesion.
A parliamentary group in which such incredibly committed, smart staff members, led by Annette, work. And in the many MPs’ offices, not only Julia, Viktoria, Herdis, Lars, Sascha, Malte, and Gregor from my office. I want to thank all of you.
In this group, a diversity of experiences and perspectives is revealed. Just one example: Frank, the oldest here, just chaired the election. When I was a minister in Hanover, Frank was ÖTV district secretary and tormented us with his personnel representation law. At the same time, two-year-old Shahina was in the central contact point in Braunschweig that I had set up—having fled from Afghanistan via New Delhi.
Today, the three of us work together in this Green parliamentary group and are changing this country.
Leaving the people of this group, leaving you, is the hardest part for me.
We have nothing to hide. We are the youngest parliamentary group with the most new members. And yet we have proven ourselves more capable of governing than some of our coalition partners.
We should be confident about this ability to govern.
We have had good experiences with it. If renewable energies are growing faster than any other energy sources in India, China, and the USA today, it is based on the energy transition that we Greens in Germany pushed through.
And if today in Germany more coal capacity has been shut down than nuclear power plants, it was because of the Renewable Energy Act (EEG). And if the last coal-fired power plant is taken off the grid before 2030, it will be because we pushed through emissions trading against Schröder.
Green in government has an impact. Transformation is slow—but sustainable.
That’s why it was important to take responsibility again after 16 years. Annalena, Robert, Steffi, Lisa, Cem, and Claudia have not only managed crises like Russia’s war against Ukraine exemplary, but also begun to address the legacy of 16 years of Merkel.
Together with them, we are changing this country. 170 laws in two years are proof of that.
This applies nationally and at the European level. Without us, there would be no combustion engine phase-out and no Restore Nature; without us, there would be no revival of the wind and photovoltaic industries. Without us, there would be no climate protection in the building sector and no program for natural climate protection.
Without us, there would be no first national security strategy for Germany, no end to the grand coalition’s naïveté about China, and no global climate foreign policy strategy, including energy and hydrogen partnerships.
And even though the FDP is involved, we have corrected our own mistakes from the red-green era—with a higher minimum wage, reform of unemployment benefits, and child benefit reform.
Some describe the traffic light coalition as incapable of action. These are the same people who complain we are changing too much. At halftime, I can say for the Greens:
We are capable of action and remain willing to act.
All of this is controversial. All of it is being fought against. We must fight for everything. In everything, we suffer bitter defeats—like recently with the road traffic law.
But if it were easy, we wouldn’t be needed.
That’s why Bernd Ulrich is completely wrong when he suggests in Die Zeit that we leave this coalition. That would be irresponsible. Not only because it would endanger our transformation successes from the building energy law to unemployment benefits.
It would accelerate the shift to the right in our society.
From the USA to our European neighbors, we are witnessing deeply divided societies where fascist parties and movements are gaining strength. Look at the USA, look at Spain, observe the Netherlands.
Germany is seen today as an anchor of democratic stability in Europe and the world.
That is in danger.
Look at the new Habsburg front against wind energy in Thuringia—where the CDU and FDP are once again working with Höcke’s AfD.
Germany’s democratic stability depends on the ability and willingness of its democrats on the left and right to find consensus across party lines—to form coalitions.
No coalition is easy. Neither green-black in Baden-Württemberg nor red-green in Lower Saxony. But coalitions like in Saxony and Brandenburg are particularly challenging. We face this challenge for a simple reason.
If democrats don’t stand together, anti-democrats come to power.
That is the historical lesson enshrined in the Basic Law. It is the spirit that this Reichstag breathes:
One must never hand over power to anti-democrats. Never again.
That message is in danger. When democratic institutions come under pressure—where do we defend them better?
In the institutions or helplessly on the opposition benches?
The coming times will be tough. But we Greens will get through them.
Or, to quote a current campaign: Dear Bild, don’t get your hopes up. Green stays Green.
This government will not fail because of us.
As I said, there is no perfect time to step down. But mid-term, after 25 years, is justifiable. I can go because I know I can count on you.
Thank you for everything. And goodbye.