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Green leader Annalena Baerbock has emphasized the urgency of swift action in climate policy.

"Now the decisive decade begins," she said on Friday in her speech at the first digital federal party conference of the Greens.

She also accused the grand coalition of serious failures in education policy.

Federal Managing Director Michael Kellner reiterated the ambitions of the Greens: "Today we are no longer correcting others, but claiming leadership in this country." 

Baerbock said to the approximately 800 digitally connected delegates that the policy of the grand coalition worked according to the pattern "in principle for, but specifically against".

That "cost valuable years".

It is now a matter of massively expanding renewable energies, accelerating the phase-out of coal, getting clean cars on the road, and starting the circular economy. 

The head of the Greens referred to the Paris climate agreement with the obligation to limit the heating of the earth to well below two degrees and as much as possible towards 1.5 degrees.

"That is true, that is our foundation, we do not have to create anything new for it," she said, also referring to demands from the party and climate activists to make 1.5 degrees a fixed mark of green politics.

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“Every time has its color.

And this time is green, ”said Baerbock in her speech.

With a view to the influence of the Greens, who for the first time formulated a claim to power for the next federal election, she said: “We have to be honest: we Greens cannot build a socio-ecological market economy alone - not with 20 percent, not even with 30. " 

This would require majorities, a basic acceptance and the willingness of the people to participate.

The policy of the Greens must “always address society as a whole”.

It is necessary “to do it really differently from now on,” said Baerbock.

“We have to take precautionary measures instead of capitalizing on everything,” she said with a view to the health system.

“We finally have to put people's well-being at the center of our economic system, instead of maximizing the profit of individuals.” At the same time, she spoke out against concerns about major cuts: “Don't be afraid, this climate revolution is about as crazy as a building society loan agreement. "

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Baerbock sharply criticized failings in education policy: "Even before Corona, education was not on the hit list of political priorities." She pointed out that the Greens want to include doubling education spending in primary education in their basic program.

Vote on genetic engineering postponed

Federal Managing Director Kellner said at the opening of the party congress that the Greens had "grown rapidly" in recent years.

The current number of members is 105,980.

The Greens want to adopt a new basic program.

Actually, genetic engineering should be voted on on Friday evening.

But the first substantive vote was postponed to Saturday late in the evening due to lack of time.

"In medicine and biotechnological applications, genetic engineering has made important progress, while its use in the agricultural sector has led to new problems," says a proposal from the application commission.

"In the agricultural sector in particular, research on alternative approaches that rely on traditional and ecological breeding methods should be strengthened."

Controversial debates are also expected on Saturday and Sunday on the basic social income, on a referendum at the federal level and above all on the formulation of climate targets.