The federal election campaign is taking shape.

The party congress begins this Friday, when the Greens want to tighten their election manifesto.

Even if the official schedule stipulates that everything is wrapped up by 1 p.m. on Sunday - past events of this kind have taught that the organizers' schedule can quickly be postponed.

The party base has always had a lot of need for discussion, this year even more than usual. The members submitted more than 3200 amendments to the party leadership's draft program.

They want significantly more, especially when it comes to climate protection and social redistribution.

Julia Löhr

Business correspondent in Berlin.

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    The delegates will vote on almost two dozen motions. Some of the results are likely to be close. One of the demands is that the CO2 price, which has made petrol, diesel, heating oil and gas more expensive since the beginning of the year, should rise significantly more than planned. It is currently 25 euros per tonne of CO2 and is expected to rise to 55 euros by 2025. The federal board of the Greens wants to set it at 60 euros as early as 2023, which would mean that the gasoline price would increase by 16 cents per liter. That has already triggered a lot of criticism in the past few days. However, this is still not enough for the applicant from the Rendsburg-Eckernförde district association: He is demanding 120 euros per ton in 2023.

    There is also pressure on the party leadership on the subject of speed limits to take a stronger stand.

    While the draft program for motorways speaks of a "safety speed" of 130 kilometers per hour and what exactly is meant by this remains open, members want to turn it into a "general speed limit".

    Tempo 30 should also become the new rule within localities.

    And as early as 2025, according to the will of the base, no new cars with internal combustion engines should be registered.

    The federal board, however, is aiming for 2030.

    13 euros minimum wage, top tax rate of 52 percent

    Michael Kellner, political director of the Greens, said in the run-up to the party congress that the federal election would be a “duel between green and black”. He was confident about the changes in everyday life that are necessary for more climate protection. A company like Tchibo supports the supply chain law, even ADAC members are now in favor of a speed limit, and sales of organic food have increased by a fifth in the past year. “Society is further than politics,” says Kellner. But not everyone likes that.

    After the debate on the climate program items on Friday evening, the fields of social affairs and economics follow on Saturday. The vote includes motions to extend the parental allowance from 14 months today to 24 months and to raise the minimum wage to 13 euros. The draft program is 12 euros, currently it is 9.50 euros. As the new top tax rate, the Berlin Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district association is not demanding 48 percent, as envisaged in the draft, but 52 percent. The topic of rent caps should also come up for discussion. The draft states that existing rent ceilings should be made possible with a federal law - ultimately a rent cap like the one that the State of Berlin had until the Federal Constitutional Court overturned the law.

    The Greens invited two old friends as guest speakers on economic issues: the former Siemens boss Joe Kaeser and DGB boss Reiner Hoffmann. Kaeser already spoke last year at an economic conference of the Bundestag parliamentary group and recently raved about Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock in public. Hoffmann was already at the party congress in 2019. He praised the top duo from Baerbock and Habeck as "really great".