The Greens and the German elections.

• Author: Grossman, Victor
• Position: Salvaging Democracy

"Not with me," said Joschka Fischer, head of the Green Party, who remains Foreign Minister until a new government is formed. [1] His refusal meant he would not join a government headed by Angela Merkel, the leader of the right-wing Christian Democratic Union, which won a very thin, unexpectedly thin victory in last Sunday's election--nudging out Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats by nine tenths of a percentage point which meant three seats in the Bundestag.

Fischer's seemingly steadfast, principled position was actually surprising because it was his first such stand in most people's recollection. Unfriendly voices suggested that it was based less on principle and more on hopes of coming back stronger another day. Such cynicism reflected the situation in his party (called officially "Alliance 90/The Greens"). It is no longer the party it once was, nor is it the party some American Green supporters may think it to be.

During the 1980s, it was a new, vigorous leftist party in West Germany--definitely not "communistic" but deeply committed, not only on environmental issues. It was feminist, anti-war, and in some ways even anti-capitalist. Delegates elected to state legislatures and later, to the national Bundestag, captured attention with their casual clothing (often knitted sweaters) and manners, with some men and women knitting during congresses and taking the kids along.

Their emblems, a sunflower and a little hedgehog, and their rules, like demanding a constant rotation of their office holders, symbolized a fresh wind in the stuffy chambers of German politics.

Then a fissure developed, gradually leading to a split between the so-called "fundis," for fundamentalists, who largely rejected the political and economic system ruling the country, and the "realos," or realists, which meant pragmatists.

As the Party grew in strength, it was the realos who proved stronger. The first Green minister in a state government was sworn in wearing sneakers and no tie; it was Joschka Fischer. When the Social Democrats beat the Christian Democrat Helmut Kohl in 1998 but needed a partner to gain a majority in the Bundestag, the Greens seemed a natural ally. Fischer became Deputy Chancellor and Foreign Minister.

The Greens were put in charge of two other Ministries: Environment and Agriculture/Consumer Welfare. Once in the government, however, their radical positions were filed smooth by contact with the tough Social Democrats.

The latter two ministers...