by Jim Jepps

According to polls the German Greens, who already have the most MPs they’ve ever had, are seeing an unprecedented rise in the polls seeing them neck and neck for the first time with the SPD, the German version of the Labour Party.

So what’s to account for the rise which, like in Sweden, does not seem to have effected other parties to the left of the centre?

One explanation is that the new right-wing coalition’s decision to extend the life of existing nuclear power stations has hit a nerve in a nation that has had a vibrant anti-nuclear movement for many decades.





The current ruling Tory/Liberal Coalition (CDU and FDP on the graph) is polling at 34% to the SPD/Green 48%, or 58% if you include the Left Party.

Others point to a fresh way of doing politics – they have the first Turkish (joint) leader of a political party and they have refused to get bogged down as an alternative to the Left Party, having been willing to deal with the parties of the right when it suits them.

That’s certainly not to my taste, but it’s quite possible that this has allowed them to eat into the CDU’s vote as well as the SPD’s.

Ironically the CDU’s backing for nuclear power has put a stop the potential deals between the Greens and the right so they’re getting the best of both worlds – looking open minded and willing to work with anyone, whilst the right has cut itself out of the picture.

Another theory is that with hundreds of thousands out on the street mobilised for an issue that the Greens claimed as their own years ago that surge of anti-government protest has fortuitously fallen in the lap of the Greens. Der Speigel think this might cause as many problems for the Greens as it offers opportunities, as the party is no longer simply a party of protest.

Who knows whether this will last or becomes a deeper long-term trend but it is becoming clearer that across Europe the centre simply is not holding. But the ground hasn’t always shifted towards the traditional far-right or far-left parties either.