Here’s a sentence this columnist never expected to write: Two cheers for Germany’s Green Party. It may have a lesson for the rest of Europe.

The Greens were the big winner in state elections in Bavaria earlier this month, more than doubling their vote tally from five years ago to finish second. The party is expected to match that result in this Sunday’s state election in Hesse, where it’s currently polling around 20%. That’s nearly twice its 2013 finish and tied for second with the center-left Social Democratic Party.

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