A Greener Germany

In the future, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and his Social Democrats will have reason to treat their junior coalition partner, the Greens, with more respect. In the September 22 nationwide elections, the Greens did better than anyone had expected--by just a percentage point or two, but enough to give the center-left a paper-thin majority and thus a second chance at running the country.

It is a chance many Germans felt they didn't deserve, and voters let the Social Democrats know it. Four years ago, Schröder told Germans he wouldn't expect their votes a second time if he didn't slash the nation's jobless rolls to 3.5 million. He didn't; the unemployed number more than 4 million, just as when he took office. Schröder's bungling of the economy cost the Social Democrats several dozen seats in the Bundestag and undermined its position as the country's most popular party.

To a large extent, the Greens owe the shift in their fortunes (after nineteen consecutive losses) to the political savvy and appeal of their leader, Joschka Fischer, Germany's respected Foreign Minister and the country's most popular politician. The Greens leaned heavily on his celebrity status to win new voters, a contradiction that the traditionally antiauthoritarian, grassroots party has learned to live with.

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