Party conference - Second attempt: Berlin Greens elect state executive committee
Following Saturday's debacle, the Berlin Greens have elected their state executive at the second attempt. In future, the state association will be led by member of the Bundestag Nina Stahr and Philmon Ghirmai, who was previously state chairman. Both received a large majority of votes on Wednesday evening, Ghirmai despite two opposing candidates. The party conference was aborted on Saturday after the Realo wing's candidate for the state chairmanship, Tanja Prinz, failed in three rounds of voting.
Stahr already received a lot of applause for her candidacy speech. "Politics is a tough business, and politics sometimes hurts," she said, referring to Prinz. "I would like to start by apologizing for the way we dealt with you." That was not worthy of a feminist party, she said.
"We will have a lot to clarify in the coming weeks," Stahr announced. She also sees a need for discussion with regard to the open letter from nine district associations that had criticized Prinz supporters. The letter spoke of false allegations and a culture of mistrust. Members had been intimidated and others had been put under psychological pressure. "This world, this city has enough crises. It doesn't need another crisis in our party," said Stahr.
Although the Greens' constitution stipulates that party office and mandate must be separated, 41-year-old Stahr wants to remain in the Bundestag. However, both together will only be possible for a transitional period, which will end in May at the latest, when the next state delegates' conference is due to take place. "I know I'm asking a lot of you," said Stahr. "But you're asking something of me too!"
Stahr struck the right note with her speech and got through. She received a clear majority: 127 out of 144 delegates voted in her favor. Philmon Ghirmai had two opposing candidates. He received 103 out of 140 votes cast. Ghirmai, who comes from the Neukölln district association and is one of the party's left-wingers, has already been state chairman since 2021. He said that the Greens had big tasks ahead of them and pointed to the elections in the coming years.
Stahr, who belongs to the realist wing of the party, also already has experience in the leadership position at the head of the state association: together with current parliamentary group leader Werner Graf, she was chairwoman of the Berlin Greens from 2016 to 2021.
One of her main tasks, together with Ghirmai, is to prevent a further escalation of the dispute within the state association and to steer the party into calmer waters. This will not be easy. In recent weeks, the question of who should lead the Berlin Greens in the future has caused a great deal of uncertainty.
This is not only, but also about the future direction of the Greens and the question of how the party can best perform in the next parliamentary elections in 2026. In the repeat election last February, the party's left-wingers called for a continuation of the old red-green-red coalition. Parts of the Realos around Tanja Prinz wanted to open up the Greens more towards cooperation with the CDU.
Stahr, who comes from the Steglitz-Zehlendorf district association, is regarded as a Reala who is also accepted by the party left. She gave up the party chairmanship when she became a member of the Bundestag in 2021. She is now the education and research policy spokesperson for her parliamentary group.
Whether she remains a purely transitional candidate remains to be seen. In the event of a complete re-run of the Bundestag election in Berlin - the Federal Constitutional Court will decide on this question on Tuesday next week - Stahr could be kicked out of parliament. In this case, the problem of the incompatibility of office and mandate would have resolved itself.
State delegates' conference on December 13
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Source: www.stern.de
