The federal executive board of the Greens can breathe a sigh of relief: when the members voted on the amendments to the economic part of the election program late on Saturday evening, they rejected most of these motions.
One point in particular was the focus of interest: the demand for a higher top tax rate.
The federal board wants to increase this from the current 42 percent to 48 percent.
But for part of the base that didn't go far enough.
The application, submitted by the Berlin district association Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, wanted a percentage of 53 percent.
But two thirds of almost 700 participants in this vote refused.
Julia Löhr
Business correspondent in Berlin.
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“The leap you are proposing is too big”: With these words, Co-Chairman Robert Habeck promoted the more moderate proposal.
In other economic and socio-political program items, too, the election program will be formulated as proposed by the party leadership.
This applies, for example, to the minimum wage.
According to the will of the Greens, it should be raised to 12 euros.
Some members would have preferred to see it at 13 euros.
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The demand of the party's youth organization for the expropriation of large housing companies was rejected, as was the request of some to raise the CO2 price significantly more than the now planned 60 euros per tonne of CO2 in 2023 . Some Greens would have liked to have asked for it for 2025, but were also unable to prevail.
Even if it sounds strange: The falling polls of the past few weeks are likely to have helped the party leadership at this party congress. An even stronger shift to the left, as especially the younger Greens are calling for with a view to climate change, does not come about for the time being. The poor performance of the Greens in the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt should also contribute to this, as it made the party realize that their demands may be able to win a majority in large cities, but not in rural regions.
That does not mean, however, that this election manifesto of the Greens has laid the basis for a black-green coalition after the general election. On the contrary, as can be seen from the Hartz IV issue. Even before the votes on the amendments, the federal executive board approached the basis and agreed to a compromise that the monthly Hartz IV rates for the more than five million adults and children in the basic security should be increased by at least 50 euros. In the original draft program, on the other hand, it was only stated that the standard rates should be increased “gradually”. The increase of 50 euros is a "minimum condition for any coalition," said the social policy spokesman for the Greens, Sven Lehmann.
It was also interesting how Robert Habeck argued in the debate about the top tax rate: the higher you set it, the more difficult it becomes with the wealth tax.
However, according to the program, their introduction at the state level is a declared goal of the Greens.
At the same time, Habeck warned that the otherwise so united appearance of the Greens would be destroyed by a public dispute over the top tax rate.
The similarities in financial policy are greater than ever before.
Former Siemens boss Joe Kaeser was added as a guest speaker for the economic chapter.
“I like the claim of a socio-ecological market economy,” he said.
This connects the current issues of the time.
Kaeser warned that if Germany continues as before, it will be left behind.
At an economic conference of the Greens parliamentary group last year, Kaeser made no secret of his sympathy for the Greens, and he has recently been actively promoting Baerbock's election. Now the Greens have the "great opportunity to move up from the head of the Environment department to the Board of Directors for Germany".