Berlin ((TEH)) – The country is in a state of emergency, as is politics. The chancellor in quarantine in her apartment.
Your ministers step in front of the cameras seriously every day, there is always a lot going on: billion-dollar aid of historic proportions for the economy, people who are acutely afraid for their jobs and their homes, and the replenishment of food for the supermarkets. A federal government in crisis management mode. Apparently the voters get that.
The Union, in particular, is growing in surveys, and the SPD is also growing a bit. Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) is the man of the hour, CSU boss Markus Soder is omnipresent as a particularly energetic corona fighter. Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) is also receiving praise abroad for prudent but clear words.
In the Union, there are no illusions, in spite of values that sometimes even exceed the 35 percent mark. These are snapshots that are primarily related to the appearance of the Chancellor and her closest crusaders such as Health Minister Jens Spahn, Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer or Economics Minister Peter Altmaier, who often appears together with Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD).
The good values are connected with the fact that the aid packages for companies, jobs, and tenants, which were decided in a hurry last week, also worked, strategists in the CDU believe. If they don’t, the mood could change quickly at any time – depending on the course of the crisis in the health system and the economy.
Even in the SPD, it is better not to look too closely at the polls at the moment – probably also because the junior partner in the government does not benefit as much as the Union. This leaves the Willy-Brandt-Haus somewhat perplexed, especially since Vice Chancellor Scholz puts together and presents one rescue package after another – and obviously feels comfortable in this strong position. But as so often with the SPD in recent years, others seem to benefit more from their government work.
Nevertheless, the coalition parties are currently winning above all at the expense of the opposition – and that is where the Greens, in particular, catch the eye. In two out of three surveys last weekend, they fell below the 20 percent mark. If you consider that they moved into the Bundestag with 8.9 percent in 2017 as the smallest fraction, 17 to 19 are still a lot – but the expectation of the Greens has long been different. In the past few months, it was about the chancellor candidacy of a perceived almost-already government party, which also likes to present itself in a state-supporting manner as if it were already sitting at the cabinet table.
Now the Greens in the federal government – like the FDP, Linke, and AfD as well – have to watch largely from the sidelines how the CDU / CSU and SPD steer the country through the rough seas of the corona crisis. They are emphatically constructive, praise Merkel and the cooperation with the government factions, and support coalition decisions in the Bundestag.
“Now is the hour of the executive,” says Jurgen Trittin, the former federal minister – and reminds that the Greens are part of the government in eleven federal states. In Baden-Wurttemberg, they even provide the prime minister, but nowhere, for example, a minister of the interior, who would now watch over contact bans for health protection.
The green brand core of climate protection, which dominated politics for months, is suddenly a marginal issue. The activists of Fridays for Future, like everyone else, have to stay at home. Is the climate crisis of interest when it comes to short-time work, job loss, fear of existence? In the Bundestag debate on the crisis, parliamentary group leader Katrin Goring-Eckardt said the words “ecologically sensible” only once, at the very end of her speech.
Even before the corona pandemic, when the end of the long economic upturn was beginning to emerge, the Greens joked: “Whenever we get to it, the money is all.” Now there could be a deep crisis. The Greens have been working on their economic and political image for a long time – ex-party leader Cem Ozdemir submitted that the two leaders Robert Habeck and Annalena Baerbock continue. In social policy as well. It has to be seen whether that pays off.
“It’s nothing new that the Greens also speak out in terms of economic policy,” says Trittin. “Even before Corona it was foreseeable that growth would not go on like this, so we called for an investment fund to be set up.” When the crisis picked up speed, the party and faction reacted quickly, proposing measures that the black-red coalition also included in the program some days later. Does that help? “You are perceived with the competence that is ascribed to you,” says Trittin. “You can prove yourself better when governing than with papers.”
Current polls at Wahlrecht.de
The Union, in particular, is growing in surveys, and the SPD is also growing a bit. Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) is the man of the hour, CSU boss Markus Soder is omnipresent as a particularly energetic corona fighter. Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) is also receiving praise abroad for prudent but clear words.
In the Union, there are no illusions, in spite of values that sometimes even exceed the 35 percent mark. These are snapshots that are primarily related to the appearance of the Chancellor and her closest crusaders such as Health Minister Jens Spahn, Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer or Economics Minister Peter Altmaier, who often appears together with Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD).
The good values are connected with the fact that the aid packages for companies, jobs, and tenants, which were decided in a hurry last week, also worked, strategists in the CDU believe. If they don’t, the mood could change quickly at any time – depending on the course of the crisis in the health system and the economy.
Even in the SPD, it is better not to look too closely at the polls at the moment – probably also because the junior partner in the government does not benefit as much as the Union. This leaves the Willy-Brandt-Haus somewhat perplexed, especially since Vice Chancellor Scholz puts together and presents one rescue package after another – and obviously feels comfortable in this strong position. But as so often with the SPD in recent years, others seem to benefit more from their government work.
Nevertheless, the coalition parties are currently winning above all at the expense of the opposition – and that is where the Greens, in particular, catch the eye. In two out of three surveys last weekend, they fell below the 20 percent mark. If you consider that they moved into the Bundestag with 8.9 percent in 2017 as the smallest fraction, 17 to 19 are still a lot – but the expectation of the Greens has long been different. In the past few months, it was about the chancellor candidacy of a perceived almost-already government party, which also likes to present itself in a state-supporting manner as if it were already sitting at the cabinet table.
Now the Greens in the federal government – like the FDP, Linke, and AfD as well – have to watch largely from the sidelines how the CDU / CSU and SPD steer the country through the rough seas of the corona crisis. They are emphatically constructive, praise Merkel and the cooperation with the government factions, and support coalition decisions in the Bundestag.
“Now is the hour of the executive,” says Jurgen Trittin, the former federal minister – and reminds that the Greens are part of the government in eleven federal states. In Baden-Wurttemberg, they even provide the prime minister, but nowhere, for example, a minister of the interior, who would now watch over contact bans for health protection.
The green brand core of climate protection, which dominated politics for months, is suddenly a marginal issue. The activists of Fridays for Future, like everyone else, have to stay at home. Is the climate crisis of interest when it comes to short-time work, job loss, fear of existence? In the Bundestag debate on the crisis, parliamentary group leader Katrin Goring-Eckardt said the words “ecologically sensible” only once, at the very end of her speech.
Even before the corona pandemic, when the end of the long economic upturn was beginning to emerge, the Greens joked: “Whenever we get to it, the money is all.” Now there could be a deep crisis. The Greens have been working on their economic and political image for a long time – ex-party leader Cem Ozdemir submitted that the two leaders Robert Habeck and Annalena Baerbock continue. In social policy as well. It has to be seen whether that pays off.
“It’s nothing new that the Greens also speak out in terms of economic policy,” says Trittin. “Even before Corona it was foreseeable that growth would not go on like this, so we called for an investment fund to be set up.” When the crisis picked up speed, the party and faction reacted quickly, proposing measures that the black-red coalition also included in the program some days later. Does that help? “You are perceived with the competence that is ascribed to you,” says Trittin. “You can prove yourself better when governing than with papers.”
Current polls at Wahlrecht.de
