The Greens party believes that their electoral victory in a key German state signals a growing “European momentum”.
The assertion comes after the German Greens have won the key election in industrial Baden‑Württemberg, Germany’s third most populous state, beating the CDU party of Chancellor Merz.
The German success follows similar recent electoral success for the Greens in a recent UK parliamentary by election.
In Germany, Green candidate Cem Özdemir won with 30.5% of the vote and is taking over from the most popular politician in the state, Green Premier Winfried Kretschmann, who has governed Baden‑Württemberg since 2011.
Özdemir is a former federal cabinet minister and party co-chair.
The German chancellor’s conservative CDU had enjoyed a double-digit lead in the south-western car production region of Baden-Württemberg just weeks ago.
But, in the poll, Chancellor Merz’s CDU attracted just 29.7%, while its junior coalition partners on the federal level, the Social Democrats, won just 5.5% of the vote.
Comment was swift with Ciarán Cuffe, Co-Chair of the European Green Party, greeting the victory as a significant achievement.
Cuffe said, “Cem Özdemir fought a credible and consistent campaign to win Baden-Württemberg, taking the Greens from polls below 20% in late 2024, to over 30% today and beating the conservatives of CDU.
“Voters have rewarded the Greens who delivered on promises and offered a credible vision for a better future that reconciles economic and climate policies.”
Further reaction came from Vula Tsetsi, Co-Chair of the European Green Party.
Tsetsi said, “Together with the victory of the UK Greens in the by-election in Greater Manchester, and the recent election of Sisse Marie Welling of the Green Left party as Lord Mayor of Copenhagen, we are seeing a series of victories among our member parties.
“These successes show that voters want solutions that make daily life more affordable, protect the environment and strengthen democratic governance.
“These first signs of a wave of change emerging across Europe give us strong energy for the other important elections taking place in Germany, the local elections in the Netherlands and France, and the national elections in Slovenia and Denmark this month,” said Tsetsi.