Lisa Paus in the Berlin re-election campaign: Ms. Paus is satisfied

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Lisa Paus during the street election campaign in Berlin-Charlottenburg: “I am satisfied with my results”

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Maurizio Gambarini / FUNKE Photo Services / IMAGO

Lisa Paus falls over. The wind tore the large beach sail with the face of the Federal Minister for Family Affairs onto the ground in a pedestrian zone in Berlin-Wilmersdorf. An employee of the Green Party politician quickly puts it back up. The real Lisa Paus stands in front of it and smiles with her hair flowing for a photo with her campaign team.

Just keep going.

Paus has stuck to this sentence over the past few months. Some things haven't worked out in your ministry lately. For example, the legislative process surrounding Paus' heart project, basic child welfare, has been dragging on for a year now. Then, after the budget ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court, savings had to be made on parental allowance instead of increasing it as planned. Paus had to be responsible for lowering the income limit. After all, she is still waiting to introduce the so-called family start time, two paid weeks of partner leave after the birth.

That's actually enough construction sites, but now Paus also has a completely different topic: the partial repeat of the federal election in Berlin, which was necessary due to massive glitches in the 2021 vote. Voting will take place again in 455 electoral districts, and Paus' constituency of Berlin-Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf is also affected. There is no risk for the minister of losing her Bundestag mandate: she entered the Bundestag via the Green state list. She still canceled her vacation for the election campaign.

Because Paus wants to take the direct mandate from the SPD man Michael Müller, once the governing mayor of Berlin, and ensure that the CDU candidate Klaus-Dieter Gröhler does not manage to overtake the SPD and the Greens. He calculates things completely differently, hoping for a lesson for the traffic lights. In 2021, Paus finished three and a half percentage points behind Müller, Gröhler was around two points behind Paus.

A direct mandate would be a very good sign for the Family Minister, now that the 2021 federal election is further away than the next federal election in 2025.

So Paus distributes flyers in front of supermarkets, goes for a walk with supporters by the lake, and presents her program to passers-by in the pedestrian zone. On the windy Saturday in February, pensioners push their shopping trolleys through Wilmersdorf. Paus approaches her in a green coat. »Madam Minister, very nice. I also have grandchildren. “You’re very committed,” says a passer-by, taking a flyer from Paus’s hand. “It's a shitty time,” says another woman, adding that Paus isn't having an easy time.

A man from the Federal Agency for Technical Relief thanks the increase in funds for voluntary services and takes a selfie with the minister. Another says she should do everything against the AfD. While Paus waits for people to take her flyers, she hums quietly to herself. Everything is very comfortable here.

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Then a couple has a serious concern. »Madam Minister. We've been waiting for the family start time for a year," says the man, his partner and their three-year-old daughter next to him. The couple is expecting a second child. Paus says she's also waiting for family start time to come. The minister laughs and tries to explain why it isn't all that easy.

Paid partner leave after the birth was actually agreed in an EU directive. But the Merkel government has already negotiated that this claim does not apply to Germany. Parental allowance already exists.

The traffic light still wrote the plan into the coalition agreement, and Paus wants to implement it. However, she is repeatedly asked to postpone the project in order not to place such a heavy burden on employers during the crisis. "It's still the case that other issues are more important to other people at the moment." Paus says Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP). When Paus announced a corresponding law at the beginning of this year, he said: "You misunderstood me."

Will Paus get children out of poverty with basic child support? Uncertain

It's frustrating, says the father of the family in the pedestrian zone, he was betting on this money. Then the little family leaves. Paus calls after her: “And at least basic child welfare is coming!”

Unlike the nuclear family, Paus herself sees her performance over the past two years as positive. “I am satisfied with my results because I have tackled a number of important projects that should have been tackled in the past,” she said a few days earlier. By this she doesn't just mean basic child security. This is - after being significantly shortened by Lindner - at least already in the parliamentary process. Will Paus use this to lift children out of poverty? Uncertain.

She also means the Kita Quality Act, for which she secured funding at the beginning of her term in office. An important step. However, daycare centers in the country are currently declaring a childcare emergency.

Another project that Paus is proud of: the ban on “sidewalk harassment” of women on the way to an abortion. The cabinet has just agreed on the new rules after almost two and a half years. Paus recently introduced them.

A few days after the election campaign in the pedestrian zone

Paus gets the opportunity to sell her record as a success once again. She is standing with Green Party leader Ricarda Lang on the stage of a cinema in Prenzlauer Berg. Party colleagues have come together here to support MP Stefan Gelbhaar. He wants to defend his direct mandate in the Pankow constituency. Lang questions Paus on stage. Paus can say what she thinks is going great.

There is, of course, their commitment to promoting democracy, begins Paus. An important issue that is currently helping the Greens to mobilize. After the secret meeting of right-wing extremists and AfD members in Potsdam, the Greens recorded numerous party memberships. Paus speaks of competence networks against anti-Semitism, partnerships for democracy, action weeks against racism. She can't stop talking about how important it all is. So important that she interrupts her party leader as Lang moves on to the next topic.

“I want to say something else,” says Paus. It is now urgently necessary for all of these model projects to become permanent structures; for this they need the Democracy Promotion Act. “It’s already finished and it’s already in parliament,” says Paus. After all, it sounds like she can check the box at this point.

No money, but a good mood

Lang asks about the minister's other successes: For example, the loneliness strategy that Paus presented in December. The minister says she wants to set an example. Loneliness has increased due to the pandemic. However, she says she doesn't have "that much money" to fight it. But the important thing is to get the topic out of the taboo zone. This is a friendly way to describe it when the rest of the government obviously doesn't think an issue is relevant enough to allocate money for it.

The same applies to basic child welfare – according to Lang, one of the Greens’ most important issues within the federal government. "It wasn't an easy ride," says Paus about the months-long disputes with the finance minister. Now the law is being “made a little better” in the Bundestag. She is very happy about it, “even though I would have liked more financially.”

After Paus, Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck comes on stage. To loud applause, he outlined the major problems of these days. Fighting right-wing extremism, defending democracy, that sort of thing. Habeck lists everything the federal government has done right: climate protection, expansion of renewable energies, hydrogen networks. »We're not done yet! That's why you chose us! That’s why we want to be re-elected!” shouts Habeck to the cheering crowd.

He doesn't talk about Paus' successes.